Not Here to Make Friends
by Sturm and Drang
Summary: Unfortunately for Hitoshi Shinsou, in Class 1A, friendship is Not A Choice.
1. It's Official

**This story was born because I liked Shinsou and wanted to see how he might interact with the various students of Class 1A.**

 **More than anything else, I don't want anyone to be OOC. Let me know if you think I did a good Job on that. Of course, we haven't seen too much of Shinsou's actual personality, but I'll do my best.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Chapter one: It's Official**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Shinsou glanced across the empty room at the rows of empty desks and took a deep breath.

He'd done it. He'd made it into the hero course.

He'd put in a decent showing at the joint training exercise and he'd heard some of the praise the watching teachers had given, but he still hadn't really believed he'd make the cut until it was all over and Professor Aizawa had taken him aside and told him:

" _It's official._ _You're in. you start tomorrow so be at my class at seven. Don't be late."_ Then the exhausted-looking man had turned around to critique the other student's performances in the exercise.

…Okay, so it was hardly the most sanctimonious moment of his life, but that was just how Aizawa was. Personally, Shinsou appreciated how straight-to-the-point he was. People had always walked on eggshells around him ever since his quirk manifested, watching what they said so as not to set off the mind-controlling monster… or something.

But here he was, standing in the classroom where he would finally start making some _real_ progress on his journey to be a hero and prove all those little whispers wrong. He glanced at the clock, it was only six-thirty. The weight of what was happening had hit him sometime after dinner and he hadn't been able to sleep much.

There was even an extra desk for him, against the far wall and somewhat awkwardly placed in front of all the others—clearly one that had only recently been added. He made his way over to it and sat down.

Without much else to do, he closed his eyes, hoping to regain some ground on his lost sleep and waited for the day to begin.

It was ten minutes before he heard the door open, Shinsou glanced over as a guy walked in. Tall, smartly-dressed, and with a pair of businesslike glasses on his face—that guy who runs fast, if he recalled correctly. What was his name again? Ida?

Glasses stopped when he saw Shinshou, caught off guard, but recovering quickly.

"Why hello there, Hitoshi Shinsou!" the guy declared, his voice booming far too loud for this early in the morning. Striding over with bold confidence, the guy stopped in front of Shinsou's desk and stood at attention. "I apologize for not seeing you at first! Professor Aizawa had informed us that you would be joining our class. I was attempting to arrive early in order to welcome you, but it would seem I underestimated your initiative!"

Shinsou blinked at him. That was… _way_ too gung-ho for this early in the morning—he had a feeling that this was going to be a theme among his new classmates and had mentally prepared himself for it.

The guy strode closer, apparently taking his silence as "As class president, allow me to be the first to welcome you on your first day in the Hero Course! It is an honor to have you here!"

Shinsou stared up at the earnest face, searching for any hint of guile or insincerity, But…dear god, this guy was completely serious and why was he chopping the air with his hands like that?

"Of course, as the first to welcome you. I believe it falls upon me to fill you in on various aspects of life in this class and other things you will need to know that you may not have already been informed about!"

Shinshou felt his eyes glaze over as his ears filled themselves with the peaceful sound of ocean waves, an automatic self-defense against the onslaught of words as the minutes slipped by.

"—and, as I have already stated, review and study sessions as well as quirk practice take place every night at 7 pm. Furthermore—"

"Oh my _god_ , Iida, give the new guy a rest, you're gonna scare him off!"

Shinsou blinked as the new voice intruded on his happy place. He glanced past Glasses—or Iida, he supposed— to check out the newcomer.

Pink. That was definitely the first impression. Pink and loud. Another of his new classmates whose name he couldn't remember. She'd thrown acid at him a couple times yesterday. That had been fun.

"Ah, good morning, Ashido! It is wonderful to see you arriving so early today!" Glasses had recovered from the interruption. "However, I would like to point out that I was not 'scaring him off' as you suggest, I was merely sharing crucial information with him to ease his transfer into our class."

"Uh huh," Pinkie was grinning. "And was he listening to any of it?"

"Of course he was." Glasses answered. "Weren't you, Shinsou?" The question came out of nowhere and Shinsou's mouth reacted on autopilot.

"No."

On the bright side, that answer had seemed to put glasses on back on his heels and Pinkie certainly seemed to find it amusing. But on the other hand, it did make him look like kind of a jerk. Too be fair, he _was_ a jerk—being nice to people seemed like a waste of time when they were all just watching him to see if he'd do something villainous—but Aizawa _had_ asked him to play nice. So, he tried to look a little contrite.

"Sorry." He said, yawning a bit and probably ruining any validity the apology might have carried. Well, he _tried._

Glasses seemed to stall for a moment, but only a little. "No apologies are necessary," he declared. "Clearly you wish to adapt to the course at your own pace and I was overwhelming you with information. I should have realized," he bowed, _actually_ bowed. "Please accept my apologies."

"…It's fine." Shinsou replied weakly. Pinkie finally managed to overcome her giggle fit and stepped forward.

"Don't worry about Iida. He's always got his motor running full tilt, if you know what I mean. You get used to it." She gave him an amiable grin as she elbowed Glasses in the side. "Anyway, I'm Mina." She thrust out her hand. Shinsou stared at it like it was about to start dripping acid… which, to be fair, it might. But… playing nice. He took it and gave it a shake. His hand didn't start melting, so he felt like that was a good start.

After that the rest of his new classmates started to trickle in.

Most of them gravitated straight toward him—everyone loves novelty—some of them were more tolerable about it than others.

"Shinsou, dude! You made it!" That was blondie, the electricity guy—calamari? No, Kaminari—clapping him hard on the back and giving a gigawatt grin. "I'm so happy for you man!"

"I thought you'd get in, but wasn't sure if the teachers would make a decision that quickly." He recognized that one too, the frog girl, Tsuyu.

Most of the others had similar things to say, congratulations and happy greetings, their names blending together as Midoriya's smile outshine even blondie's. There were a few of them that hung back, uninterested—explody and a few of the quieter students. Shinsou briefly locked eyes with Ojiro, who was frowning but nonetheless nodded a silent greeting. Shinsho nodded back.

It was all very happy, and nobody looked at all nervous about talking to him—which was weird, but whatever.

"All right, brats." Called Aizawa as he stepped into the room, his sleeping bag draped across his shoulders. "Stop crowding him and get back to your seats. Class is starting."

Everyone drifted away to their places as the older man made his way behind the front desk. He yawned, pulling the sleeping bag off his shoulders and stuffing it in a desk drawer. "Alright," Aizawa said. "As I told you last night, we have a new student in our class. Shinsou, stand up and introduce yourself."

Shinshou raised an eyebrow, what was this? Third grade? Everyone here knew who he was and about his quirk. Still, sensei was staring at him in that entirely neutral that meant he was completely serious. So, he shrugged and stood.

"My name is Hitoshi Shinsou. I'm going to become a hero that surpasses everyone here."

He sat back down.

Aizawa sighed.

"That's kinda cliché," Tsuyu commented. "But I can admire the drive."

"I like it!" Red Spikes said, turning around and grinning. "That's a manly goal! Consider your challenge accepted!"

"Tch. As if some mind-controlling bastard is ever going to surpass me."

There was a lot of other chatter as all the students chimed in. But… no mockery, no rejection of his ambitions.

He'd long since grown used to ignoring such things, but he had to admit not having to was… nice.

* * *

He had a new lunch period thanks to his new class, so none of the acquaintances he'd made in the general studies class who he found tolerable were around to sit with. So Shinsou slipped out of the cafeteria as soon as he'd grabbed something to eat, the messy cacophony of students chatting had never been for him. Besides, there was a nice tree just outside the main entrance that he liked to sit under and with luck he'd get a break from his entirely too enthusiastic new classmates.

"Nice spot, dude! Mind if we join you?"

Or not.

It was Kaminari again. What was he? Some kind of electrified puppy? Did he think that Shinsou had a treat for him in his pockets or something?

"Hey, new guy."

Shinsou looked lower, there was a… something standing next to Kaminari. Three feet tall with round purple things instead of hair, it took a few moments for him to realize that the thing was a human. It didn't help that the tiny guy had a weird look on his face, half eager, half sneaky—kind of like a weasel that's just found a big store of unguarded food.

"That's Mineta." Kaminari said helpfully.

"Your quirk," said the midget. "It's mind control, right?"

Shinsou gave an internal sigh. This could be going one of a few ways, most of them well-traveled ground. He didn't bother bracing himself. "What of it?'

Mineta's grin widened, turning positively smarmy. "So, you can make people do… _things_?"

"Mineta, dude…" Shinsou raised an eyebrow at the uncertainty in Kaminari's tone.

"Oh, come on Kaminari!" Mineta rolled his eyes, "don't pretend you don't see the possibilities." He pointed a finger at Shinsou, "He can control people!" he declared triumphantly. "He could control…" the midget lowered his voice, " _girls._ "

Shinsou took a deep breath and let it out, staring impassively into the eager, lecherous eyes.

 _Don't say anything. Just don't say anything._

The mantra repeated in his head with the bland repetition of long practice as he stared into the grape-haired midget's face. He'd had conversations like this a hundred times and he'd tried _all_ the tactics.

 _Yeah, I could also make you jump off a building. Wanna see?_

He'd only been stupid enough to try a line like that once back in grade school. It had been born more out of panic than anything else and the look of fear on the kid's face had turned his stomach. Rumors and whispers had circulated for months. _Actual_ months. It had been ridiculous.

 _I would never do that!_

That never worked either, because why would they believe it? It was like a guy walking around with a loaded gun and pointing it at people in random while promising that he would never shoot them. Sure, he might never actually _do_ anything, but it was only a matter of time until someone took a swing at him.

No. The only way to deal with it that even sort of worked was to just walk away. Say nothing and walk away. He'd gotten pretty good at it.

But… he didn't want to walk away from this. If he was going to be a hero, he'd have to deal with questions and comments like this; from reporters or regular people or…whoever. He needed a better solution, he just didn't have one yet.

"I'm not hearing a no…" the midget waggled his eyebrows, and Shinsou's felt his face twitch in disgust. But before he could say anything else there something pink shot passed his face and smacked into the midget, launching him into the air until he slammed into the school wall.

Shinsou blinked.

"Nice one, Tsu." Kaminari blinked. "You sent him at least three meters, that's gotta be a new record.

"I sensed I was needed." The girl said matter-of-factly, stepping into view. She nodded towards him, "Hello Shinsou."

"Hello Asui," Shinsou nodded, appreciatively eyeing the way the groaning midget was slowly sliding down the concrete wall before turning to look at the girl. Not quite the solution he was looking for, but he had to admit her method had a certain something to it that just walking away did not.

"My friends call me Tsu." She answered, sitting herself down in the shade of the tree and pulling out a green and black lunchbox. "You can too, if you want." She gave him a small smile. "You know, if you think you can bring yourself to tolerate having someone think of you as a friend."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Kaminari leaned toward the girl. "Wow, that's more than I could get out of him." he stage-whispered. "What's your secret?"

"He probably finds your enthusiasm annoying." Tsu answered, pulling out a sandwich of her own.

"Pretty much." Shinsou answered.

"Ouch," Kaminari clutched his chest and plopped down on the grass theatrically. "I guess I'm just too much of a rock star for this world." He whined, reaching out one hand towards the sky and sighing piteously. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Give up and stop talking?"

"Nah. I think I just need to try harder." He raised his head, "You mind if we join you for lunch?" he grinned. "I promise we'll keep our friendship to ourselves."

"She's already eating." Shinsou said, gesturing to Tsuyu.

"Can I take that as a yes?"

Shinsou rolled his eyes and took a bite of his sandwich. "Do what you want. It's not my job to tell others what to do."

"Actually," Tsuyu said thoughtfully around a bite of sandwich. "Considering your quirk, it kind of is."

Kaminari laughed. "Nice one."

Shinsou rolled his eyes but made no effort to move.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Just a short thing, but I want to make more. I think it could be fun to explore how Shinsou interacts with the various people of the hero course. That could be fun.**

 **If you liked it, let me know. And if you have any suggestions for fun interactions, I'm open to that too.**


	2. Quirk Curious

**So here we are for another chapter.**

 **Chapter Two: Quirk Curious**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Shinsou fell backward onto his bed and stared reflectively at the ceiling. His room was completely bare, he hadn't thought to bring any of his stuff from home and his parents weren't delivering his stuff until tomorrow.

The day had been almost exclusively classroom lectures—mostly about incredibly dry stuff, like how to coordinate with law enforcement while on the job as a hero. All things considered, it hadn't been that different from one in the general education course.

A little bit disappointing, but then again it wasn't like every day could revolve around using their quirks to try to fight for dominance. Or a villain attack… Shinsou frowned. He hadn't really thought about that, but with Class 1A's track record, it would probably only be a matter of time before he had to face a villain for real…

He was torn out of his musing by a rapid knocking on his door.

Shinsou turned his head and stared impassively at the trembling door. Whoever was on the other side seemed really… enthusiastic. He made no move to answer it, debating on whether he should just pretend not to be here. Then the knocking redoubled, and he sighed. Apparently, he couldn't even have twenty minutes to himself.

Lazily rolling off the bed, he strolled over to the door and pulled it open a crack.

"Hey Shinsou!" A wide grin framed by a pink face greeted him.

"Ashido." He answered neutrally. "That's my door you're attacking."

"That's right." She nodded.

"… You gonna tell me why?"

"I dunno, why don't you make me tell you?" she waggled her eyebrows at him.

He stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and closed the door.

"Hey! Wait!" the banging resumed. "Shinsou! C'mon, it was a joke."

He opened the door again. "Despite my quirk, I'm not much one for mind games. Either tell me what you want or go away."

"No need to be so crabby about it." She answered, puffing up her cheeks and pouting at him.

"We wished to know if you would like to join us for the practice session." The other voice made the mind-controller look passed Mina. He hadn't noticed the guy standing behind her, which was a surprise considering he towered over her. Shinsou took in the angular hair, facemask, and six arms until his memory flicked up a card.

"Shoji, right?"

"Correct." The tall guy nodded. "So, would you like to join us for practice? Quirk theory in the classroom is all well and good, but it is far better to sharpen your skills against others."

"You don't have too, if you don't want to." Mina interjected. "But I think you should, we're all eager to see more about what you can do!"

Well… it's not like he had anything better to do. His parents wouldn't be delivering his stuff until tomorrow, so it wasn't like he had any unpacking to do.

"Let me get my speaker."

* * *

He followed Shoji and Ashido out of the dorms to a blockish looking building made of plain concrete some distance away.

"We perform quirk practice in there to limit collateral damage." Mina explained. "The walls are cement, so Cementoss can rebuild it when we destroy the place."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "Does that happen often?"

"Not as much as it used to." She answered, grinning. "He only has to fix it up once or twice a week now."

"He used to have to do it every night." Shoji interjected.

"Totally Bakugo's fault." Mina nodded.

"I seem to remember you melting great big holes in the walls on more than one occasion."

"Hey! That was an accident!"

"I don't see why that matters, collateral damage is collateral damage."

Shinsou glanced back and forth between them, thinking back to the destruction he'd seen some of the teams make in the joint training. He wondered how broke UA would be if they didn't have Cementoss on the payroll.

Some of his new classmates were already going at it inside. Shinsho followed Shoji up onto raised bleachers overlooking a flat area that served as an arena and settled down to observe.

"You're no match for how brightly I shine, sir Iida! You cannot run faster than the speed of light!"

"That remains to be seen!"

Shinsou watched as a boy in flashy armor—Aoyoma, Shoji helpfully supplied—fired a series of lasers from his belly at the motorized class president, the blasts leaving blacked gouges in the cement walls. Iida's engines rumbled as he kicked into a higher gear to run a circle around his opponent, who couldn't turn his belly around fast enough to keep up. Suddenly, the laser guy switched direction, swinging his beam around and nearly blasting Glasses off his feet.

Iida flipped over the blast and sunk into a crouch. "I have you now!" he shouted, his engines roaring in agreement and began to throw himself forward. But before he even started moving, Aoyama had thrown his hands into the air.

"Disco Shine!" he shouted, thrusting his belly forward. His armor lit up, sending out a shotgun blast of light towards the speedster. Iida had no time to turn and crashed straight into them. The blasts lifted him off his feet and threw him backwards.

"I learned from the sports festival what to do with sneaky ones who try to give me the runaround." Aoyama's face was pale, but smiling as he kept his arms up in the air. "And I do believe, Sir Iida, that this match is mine, non?"

Iida grumbled as he sat up, smoke curling off his armor. "Indeed. I should not have been so careless as to commit to a head-on attack against someone with a quirk like yours." He pushed himself to his feet and bowed. "I concede the match."

"C'est magnifique!" Aoyama's close-lipped smile widened. Then he keeled over backwards, arms still outstretched, and thumped hard against the stone floor. "…my tummy hurts." He said, his voice small and plaintive.

"You really must work on your endurance." Iida chided, moving over to help his classmate to his feet.

Shinsou frowned, eyeing the scorch marks in the cement walls. Shoji hadn't been kidding, his new classmates really were a destructive bunch of lunatics. But… if he was gonna be a hero, he'd have to deal with villains every bit as crazy.

It was an intimidating thought, having to go up against people with superhuman powers and abilities when his own were so unreliable useful. What would he even be able to do against someone like Iida? If he'd been in laser boy's place, all the class president would have had to do was not talk and Shinsou wouldn't be able to so much as touch him.

But… the same thing was true for Professor Aizawa, wasn't it? And he was a pro hero that any villain would hate to meet, even those with full-body quirks the professor couldn't take away. Shinsou fingered the strips of white cloth draped across his shoulders.

It would be difficult, but not impossible; a small but very important distinction.

Someone cleared their throat behind him and Shinsou turned to see the smiling face of Midoriya. His eyes were sparkling, looking more excited than Shinsou felt his presence truly warranted.

"Hey Shinsou, are you here for quirk practice?"

He was tempted to say no, just to see what the green-haired boy would do. But Midoriya looked so earnest he didn't have the heart so he nodded instead. There were a couple other members of Class 1A around too: Kirishima was talking to that girl with headphone jacks on her ears, and he could see Mina was talking with Iida.

Kirishima broke off his conversation and moved over when he saw them.

"Hey, Shinsou! Good to see you!" Kirishima called, moving over to join the conversation. "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor."

"… and that would be?"

"I want you to brainwash me."

Shinsou stared, but the spikey-haired boys smile didn't falter. "Can you repeat that?"

"I said, I want you to brainwash me. We were just talking about you," he gestured to himself and the other girl. "And I want to see what it feels like. Also, I want to see if I can break out of it." Kirishima hit a fist against his palm and flashed a pointy-toothed grin. "I may need to fight villains with mental quirks like yours in the future, and I've got to train my brain to be as hard as the rest of me if I'm gonna beat them."

Well… this was a new one.

"Are you sure you want me to do that?"

"Heck yeah! I'm totally—" Kirishima's words cut off as his face went blank.

Shinsou thought for a moment, then shrugged. He _had_ asked for this. "Activate your quirk and then punch yourself in the face."

Kirishima's skin crinkled as stony lines ran across it. Mechanically he raised a fist, then slammed it into his cheek so hard he went sprawling.

"—prepared!" he finished, the word coming out muffled and a little bit dazed as he blinked. Kirishima looked around, rubbing his cheek with a bewildered expression. "Uh… What?"

"You just decked yourself." Headphones answered helpfully.

"I did?" He looked at Shinsou for confirmation.

"You asked me to." He answered, eyeing Kirishima carefully for any sign of anger or indignation. But there was more surprise than anything else.

"That was crazy!" he said, pushing himself to his feet. "I didn't even realize what had happened." He looked around, "Midoriya!"

The green boy jumped, "Yeah?'

"The heck did you break yourself out of that back in the sports festival?"

"I, uh. I mean…" Midoriya's mouth opened and closed, looking uncertain and, as the other students all turned to him with eager expressions, more than just a little bit panicky. Shinsou raised an eyebrow at him, he'd been wondering that too. Even with his limited opportunities to use it and not get punished for it, he had still brainwashed quite a few people over the years. Its control had always been absolute.

For a while, Shinsou had wondered if Midoriya had cheated. Maybe had someone in the crowd who could shoot needles hit him and snap him out of it or something. But, after learning a bit more about the guy, he'd dismissed the thought.

If Midoriya had known about his quirk in advance, he probably wouldn't have been caught by it in the first place. And if someone had taken it on themselves to interfere on his behalf, Shinsou was pretty sure Midoriya would have admitted it on the spot and forfeited the match.

"I mean… I was sort of aware of what was happening." Midoriya began. "I knew I was walking out of the ring and was trying to stop myself, but I couldn't." he smiled weakly. "My body wouldn't listen to me and I started to panic. I really didn't want to lose, but it didn't seem like there was anything I could do. Then, I think I kinda triggered my quirk by accident. You all know how my quirk tends to hurt my body a bit, there's always a bit of pain when I use it." he smiled sheepishly. "I think I may have broken one of my fingers doing it, but the pain snapped me out of Shinsou's control."

Shinsou narrowed his eyes slightly. He had plenty of experience in telling when people weren't being sincere—mostly from useless people who pretended they wanted to be friends, so they could take advantage of his quirk—and he could see from the awkward smile on Midoriya's face that he was lying. Or, at least, wasn't telling the whole truth.

Well, what of it? People were entitled to have secrets. Although… if Midoriya could break out of his quirk, other people might be able to as well. Perhaps he should corner the guy later and ask him how likely it was that a random villain might be able to copy the feat.

"I see…" Kirishima was nodding, "Then maybe it's just you had more time to break out of it?" He turned back to Shinsou.

"You want me to control you again?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah, and this time I'll be—"

Honestly, it was amazing how innocent answering a question could seem.

"Go outside and run twenty laps around the building." He ordered, and Kirishima immediately did an about face and went for the door.

"What are the chances he'll break out of that?" Headphones asked.

"Who knows." Shinsou eyed the girl, trying to remember her name.

"Kyoka Jiro," she said, noticing his silence and taking pity on him. She offered a hand and he shook it.

"That power really is kind of spooky." Mina commented, then hesitated, glancing at Shinsou. "Uh, sorry."

"It's fine." Shinsou answered blandly. "It is what it is, I'm fully capable of understanding why people find what I do disturbing."

"I don't think it's disturbing!" Midoriya interjected. "I think it's amazing!"

Shinsou stared at him. "I just told Kirishima to punch himself in the face and he did it."

"I mean… you had him activate his quirk first, that way he wasn't hurt." Midoriya answered.

"I didn't have to, though."

"I dunno if disturbing is the right word." Jiro said thoughtfully. "I've known guys who really needed a good punch to the face. Having them do it themselves seems like it would save a lot of trouble."

"I believe the fact that you cannot force your power on him if he does not speak makes it far less horrifying than it might be." Shoji added. He raised one of his hands and grew and extra limb that formed into a pair of lips. "Indeed," he went on, speaking out of the new mouth, "I would say my quirk is far more disturbing than yours."

Shinsou looked back and forth between the them, not certain what to say. It felt like they were all doing their utmost to love and tolerate the crap out of him. He… wasn't sure how to deal with that. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Karishima run passed the entrance, his face blank still completely blank.

"So how exactly does your quirk work, anyway?" Jiro asked, thankfully changing the subject. She gestured toward his speaker. "I heard you say something about not being able to use a megaphone or your quirk wouldn't work."

Shinsou hesitated. The voice of long habit warning him not to reveal how limited his quirk really was, but he ignored it. "I can't. If I use a megaphone or a speaker, it's not actually my voice someone's hearing, so it won't work no matter how hard I try."

"Does it have a range?" she asked. She raised her headphone jacks and waved them at him idly. "I can sense vibrations a long way off. Say I heard you speaking from the other side of UA and answered you. Would you be able to control me?"

Shinsou blinked at her. "I have absolutely no idea."

"That's an interesting question," said Midoriya, putting one hand on his chin and squinting at the ground in thought. "Voices are really just vibrations in the air, so if it's actually his voice's vibrations you're hearing, I see no reason it wouldn't work. Of course, there's the problem of you responding. First of all, he'd need to know if you actually responded or not. But there's also the question of if he needs to actually hear your response. Is it the that he needs to hear the response or is it just the _act_ of answering that is required? Maybe if you had a walkie talkie you could hear her response, but then, if you _do_ actually need to hear her voice, then it wouldn't work because it wouldn't be her voice you're hearing. But there's also the matter of range. Maybe if you're a certain distance away you can't control anyone anyway. But if we test it and it doesn't work, how would we which one was actually the limiting factor? I suppose…"

Shinsou's felt his eyes glazing over as Midoriya's words descended into unintelligible muttering. Iida had done a good job trying to talk his ears off this morning, but Midoriya was putting that to shame.

"Don't worry, I've got this." Jiro said, leaning closer to the mumbling teen. Very carefully, she raised one of her jacks and flicked the boy on the forehead with an audible tap.

Midoriya jumped, "W-what?" he looked at them wide-eyed, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

"You were doing that thing you do again." Jiro smirked at him. "I was just fixing it."

"O-oh." The boy grinned sheepishly, "Sorry Shinsou. I, uh, can get pretty excited about quirks."

"I can see that." The mind-controller nodded. "I can answer a few of those questions, I guess. If you ask me them one at a time."

"That sounds great!" Midoriya beamed, a notebook and pen appearing in his hands so fast Shinsou wondered if he'd used his quirk for it. "Anything you can tell me would be a fantastic! Maybe I can help you explore the limitations of your quirk. There's always new ways to use them, and I've found that nothing helps find those ways faster than getting someone else's perspective." He looked like a kid who'd just been told to help himself to whatever he wanted from the candy store.

Shinsou glanced at Jiro, who raised her hands as if to say: That's Midoriya, what can you do?

"Tell me anything you feel like, no matter how insignificant," Midoriya said. "You never know what might be important."

Shinsou shifted, a little uncomfortable. But he had to say _something_ , only a heartless monster would disappoint a face like that. "There _is_ a range to how far I can be away from someone I'm controlling. If they get too far away from me, my control ends."

"I see!" The pen was flashing back and forth across the page as Midoriya nodded. "How do you know that."

"I can feel it when the brainwashing stops." Shinsou answered, "It's like…" he waved a hand searching for the word. "It's like a lurch in my chest. Or maybe more like my chest tenses when I control someone and it eases up when the control stops."

"Interesting! I would have thought you might feel something in your head as opposed to your chest, perhaps your quirk is more linked to your voice and vocal chords than I originally thought. Do you know what your range is?"

Shinsou shrugged. "A few hundred meters? Maybe more. I haven't been able to measure it."

"We can do that later. How did you find out about the limit?"

"I…" Shinsou hesitated, looking away. "When I was younger, there was this kid that wasannoying me. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and told him to go away, a few minutes later I felt the control stop." At the time, he hadn't realized how lucky he'd been. if there hadn't been a range limit, who knew when the kid would have stopped walking?

"That's a pretty vague instruction." Jiro commented. "How did you know he wouldn't interpret 'go away' as walking in front of a car or something?"

"I didn't." Shinsou answered tightly, not looking at her. "I was five."

"Oh."

"Well…" Midoriya shifted uncomfortable, looking like he wanted to apologize, but seeing the look on Shinsou's face, decided against it. "That raises an interesting question about your control. If you give vague instructions, do people do what you intend them to or do they misinterpret them?"

"It depends." Shinsou shrugged. He really didn't want to talk about his anymore, but he could see the green-haired boy was practically bursting at the seams with questions.

"I think we can look explore that later." Jiro said, drawing Midoriya's attention away from him. "I wanna test to see if you can control me from a distance, it should be pretty easy to do. You interested?"

"Sure." Shinsou shrugged, grateful for the change of subject. "How do you want to do it?"

"I'll go outside and stick my jacks against the wall. You got a phone?" he nodded and she pulled her own out of her pocket. "Give me your number, and I'll call you so that when you ask a question, you'll know I answered."

"Works for me." I rattled off a series of numbers and she tapped her fingers against the screen in response.

"All set," Jiro nodded.

"Just one thing first." Shinsou held up a finger and turned back towards the entrance. He waited until he saw Kirishima run into sight before canceling his quirk. The spiky-haired boy stumbled and fell. He turned his face toward them.

"I… I think… I did it!" he called, barely getting the words out in between great gasps of air. Weakly he pointed at Shinsou, "I think… I heard you say twenty laps, right? I'm pretty sure I only ran seventeen."

"No such luck," Jiro answered. "He just canceled it himself."

"O-oh." Kirishima looked crestfallen, laying his head back on the ground. "Darn. Well, I… uh…okay. He turned his face toward Shinsou, "That's… quite a quirk… dude." He said, grinning weakly.

"…Thanks?" Shinsou frowned. "You alright?"

"Oh yeah!" Kirishima rolled himself over onto his back, laying spread-eagled on the ground. "I'm…fine. I'm just… just gonna lie here for a while. Until… until the world stops spinning."

"You do that."

"Allow me to fetch you some water, Kirishima." Iida called, stepping outside and jogging off.

"You're the best." Kirishima called, closing his eyes and panting.

"Well, that's that." Jiro shrugged. "I'll head outside now." She paused for a moment before looking him in the eye and adding, "but if you make me punch myself in the face, I'll blow out your eardrums. Got it?"

"That's fair."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Writing this is kind of fun because I have little to no plan. I rarely know which characters are going to be making an appearance until I actually start writing. Besides Shinsou, of course, because how can I make him feel the full force of the power of friendship if he's not there?**

 **But apart from that, it's pretty much anyone's guess who will turn up. The only plan I had for this chapter was having Kirishima punch himself in the face, not because I don't like him—quite the opposite, in fact—but because I can. Also, he seemed like the most likely one to ask Shinsou to brainwash him, so he could see what it was like.**

 **Also, since i never really have a plan on whats happening next, that means i'm open to basically anything, so if you have a cool idea for a scene or a character interaction, feel free to suggest it. I may just use it.**

Till next time!


	3. Lessons Learned

**I had a lot of ideas for interesting scenes here. So, instead of planning them out in a calm and logical manner, I slapped all in the first way I thought they fit and never looked back.**

 **Ah well, enjoy!**

 **Chapter three: Lessons Learned.**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Shinsou woke shortly before the sun rose, he always did. He didn't bother trying to go back to sleep—it never worked—choosing instead to stare at the ceiling and think back over everything that had happened last night.

He'd felt a bit like a horse put through its paces. Midoriya had pushed him on every aspect and feature of his quirk as though he thought he'd find the secret of eternal life.

And, to his surprise, Shinsou had learned things about his powers he hadn't known.

He'd been able to control Jiro, even though he hadn't heard her actually answer his question. He'd made her moonwalk across the building—she'd been pretty good at it, too. Then they'd tested it again without the phones, instead having Shoji hand signal that she'd answered and that had worked too.

So, he didn't actually have to hear people answer his question to control them, but they had to hear him ask it. That was interesting and new, but sort of useless in practice. It wasn't like he could enhance his voice to carry farther without using a speaker that would nullify his quirk anyway. Maybe if he was going after a villain that he knew had super hearing it might be useful. But how would he know they had answered him?

They had also found out that he only had a limited window to take control of someone when they responded—3.7 seconds, apparently. Before now, he'd always done it immediately, so he'd never thought about how long he could hold off taking control.

He also had an number on his range now; 370 meters. Once he got farther away than that, his control ended.

Again, _interesting_ , but not immediately helpful. Perhaps he could think of ways to use this in the future, but for now…

He reached a hand down to the floor and fumbled for his phone. Finding it, he glanced at the time: 4:30.

Great.

Well, going back to sleep was out of the question. He supposed he could just lay there and stare at the ceiling, but somehow he just wasn't feeling like being quite that pathetic at the moment. So, he rolled out of bed and slipped his shoes on.

He paused at the door, wondering if there was some kind of curfew or if students weren't allowed to wander the campus at night. But nobody had told him any such thing, so he supposed he could plead ignorance if it became an issue.

He liked going for walks at night, when the world was quieter and the people few and far between. The campus of U.A. was huge, he could easily kill an hour or two wandering around. Maybe he'd see some cool wildlife, like a racoon. He liked racoons, he'd always thought they looked like they were up to something.

He meandered through the trees for a while, not really thinking of anything. There weren't any street lamps, so it would have been dark if the moon weren't full. Eventually, he saw someone else, jogging along a small footpath and headed in his direction. The person slowed when they saw him and Shinsou recognized them.

"Hitoshi Shinsou." His voice was flat and none too friendly, but not openly aggressive. He supposed that was the best he could hope for.

"Ojiro…I can't remember you first name, sorry." The tailed boy was dressed lightly and breathing hard—probably just out for an early morning jog.

"It's Mashirao." Ojiro answered, staring at him suspiciously with his tail perked up behind him, like a meercat keeping an eye out for trouble. It was a look Shinsou was familiar with and… honestly a little bit glad to see. Everyone in class 1A had been so welcoming and friendly it was creeping him out a bit. That tight-lipped, narrowed-eye stare, as though it expected him to pick their pocket if they looked away, was much more familiar ground. "What are you doing wandering around the grounds at night?"

"Getting up to no good." Shinsou answered blandly, hands in his pockets. "Putting buckets of water on top of half-opened doors, tilting any paintings I find, plotting world domination—normal nighttime stuff. I suppose you're here to thwart my nefarious plots?"

Ojiro didn't answer, making Shinsou roll his eyes. "I promise I'm not going to brainwash you."

"I was going for an early morning run." Ojiro said, his voice flat and arms crossed. "I do so every morning to prepare my body for the trials of the day ahead."

Shinsou yawned. "Good for you." Idly he stepped passed the tailed boy and moving down the path beyond him.

"You cost me my opportunity to demonstrate my skills at the sports festival." Ojiro said, making Shinsou stop. Okay, it looked like they _were_ going to talk about it after all. The words weren't as angry as Shinsou would have expected so he looked back over his shoulder. The guy was staring at him like he expected an apology.

Well, he was going to be disappointed. Shinsou wasn't about for apologize for using his quirk, not when that was what the whole sports festival had been all about.

"Except I didn't." Shinsou he pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the hard stare. "You could have gone on into the finals. You could have shown you deserved to be there and chose not to. Very noble and everything, but if you're going to hold a grudge against me, at least make sure it's for the stuff that I _actually_ made you do."

Ojiro narrowed his eyes at him. Shinsou tensed, just a little—ready to move if the guy made decided to take a swing at him. He didn't have the binding cloth with him. Admittedly it probably wouldn't have helped much; he'd seen how hard this guy could hit things, but it would have been better than the nothing he had at the moment.

But Ojiro merely sighed.

"I suppose… you are right." He said, looking down. "I felt bewildered and uncertain, standing at the finals with no memory of how I had gotten there—especially since many of my classmates who deserved a spot hadn't made it."

Shinsou said nothing, there was nothing he could do about that.

"But I still do not approve of your methods." Ojiro looked back up into Shinsou's eyes, the angry look returning. "You rode on the backs of others to reach the finals, turning all their hard work to suit your own ends. I can still remember watching as you made those other students carry you around, as though they were just your servants."

Shinsou still said nothing. It's not like it wasn't true. He could have explained that those guys he'd made carry him around had been jerks, the kind that thought it was the height of wit to shove smaller kids into lockers or knock them into the mud. They'd tried to do that to him, so he'd considered them fair game. But still, making them carry him through the whole footrace _may_ have been a bit much… especially the considering the literal minefield near the end.

"Nonetheless… it is in the past." Ojiro continued. "I am willing to forgive you for that, as I understand that you were doing your utmost to show your abilities—no different than anyone else there."

"That's generous."

"But I will _not_ forget." Ojiro declared. "I've got my eye on you, Shinsou."

"If it makes you feel better, then knock yourself out." Shinsou answered with a shrug. It was nothing he wasn't used to.

The boy harrumphed and turned away, his tail lashing the air as he set off to finish his jog.

Shinsou watched him go until he turned around a bend and moved out of sight.

Well. That had gone about as well as he had expected. At least the guy hadn't tried to deck him with that ridiculously muscly tail. Shinsou turned his attention to other matters as his belly rumbled.

He wondered if the cafeteria was serving breakfast yet.

* * *

"I can't believe I actually did that." Jiro groaned, sitting at the breakfast table with her head in her hands. "Seriously, his quirk is nuts. I don't even remember doing it!"

"Awww, c'mon. We did it for science." Mina said, patting her on the shoulder. "Besides, you were rockin' those moves."

"Okay, but did you _have_ to take a video of me acting like a mime?"

"I mean, I didn't _have_ too. But have you seen the bit where you were walking against the nonexistent wind?" Mina asked grinned, holding up her phone and admiring it. "Look, you're even making your jacks flap around behind you, that's some quality stuff right there."

Jiro groaned again, placing her forehead against the table and trying to ignore the chuckles coming from her classmates.

* * *

"Today's class is back to the practical side of quirk combat." Aizawa said, staring out at the class with a bored expression. He'd brought them out of the classroom to one of the mock cities that UA always seemed to have laying around. "I couldn't be bothered to think up some balanced match-ups, so instead I've put your names into a hat." He pointed to an upturned top hat sitting on the pavement. "Half of you pick a name, figure out who you're fighting, and go find a place to spar. I'll be watching but try not to kill each other."

"Professor Aizawa!" Iida shouted, raising his hand. "Don't you think that is a rather lazy approach to teaching?"

"The fights you face in the real world won't always be balanced." The teacher answered in a bored voice, as though reading off a card. "The best way to simulate real world encounters is through random matches."

"I see!" Iida responded. "I withdraw my objections!"

"I'm thrilled." Aizawa yawned. He gestured to the hat. "Have at it." With that, he wandered away.

Shinsou hung back, only half of them needed to pick a name. He watched the other kids group up one by one.

Mineta gave a strangled moan as he stared at the paper in his hand, before looking around desperately. "Kaminari! I'll switch with you!"

"Why, who'd you get?" the blond boy asked, crouching and sticking his hand in the hat. He peered at the midget's card and chuckled. "Bakugo? Tough luck, dude."

Mineta grabbed Kaminari's leg and shook it. "C'mon dude. Switch with me!"

"Sorry dude, but that's just how it is sometimes. We can't always expect to fight people…who are…" he trailed off, staring at the paper in his hands. "Y'know, actually I think I will trade with you."

Mineta backed away, his eyes narrowing. "Why?" Kaminari flashed the name at him. "Todoroki?" he groaned, "that's not any better!"

"I'll switch with you." Explodey said, stalking over. "I don't wanna fight the grape midget, screw that. I wanna duke it out with Icy-Hot.

A nearby speaker attached to a utility pole crackled to life. "No switching partners." Aizawa's voice said. "Just get on with it."

Explodey rolled his eyes and raised his hands. "Fine, whatever." the air above his hands started to pop. "Start running, Grape Head."

Mineta stared at him for a moment, whipped off one of his balls and chucked it at Explody's face before taking off like a jack rabbit. The explosive teen roared, the purple ball sticking to his face as he took off in pursuit.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and Shinsou glanced around. One of the girls, Yaozorozu, waved a paper with his name on it. "Shall we go get started. There's a plaza over in that direction that nobody has taken yet."

Shinsou shrugged, letting her lead the way as he mentally reviewed what he knew about her quirk. She could make things out of her body, like a full-sized canon… that would be fun. Still, with the sound of panicked screams and explosions vanishing into the distance, he supposed he could have it worse.

She led him to a wide plaza with a cement fountain in the center. The fountain had a statue of All Might looking heroic, but no water was running. Shinsou supposed that there was no point in installing plumbing in a city that was literally made to be destroyed.

"Well," Yaozorozu turned around. "I don't think we've actually spoken before." She inclined her head. "Welcome to our class."

"Thanks." He answered, loosening the cloth around his neck. He glanced around the plaza, looking for terrain he could use. "Let's get started."

"Alright." She smiled confidently. "Don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're new."

"Do you think I want you to?"

"I suppose n-" her eyes went blank.

"Form a pair of handcuffs and put them on." Immediately the girl did so, her wrists glowing as two bands of metal encircled them before Shinsou deactivated the quirk. The girl blinked, staring in befuddlement at her trapped hands before wilting slightly.

"I walked into that one, didn't I?" she sighed. She opened her mouth, her lips glowing as a key formed. She clutched it between her teeth and somewhat awkwardly stuck it in the lock, freeing her hands. She looked at him quizzically as she rubbed at her wrists. "You could have made me make something a lot bigger and exhausted me. Why didn't you?"

"If I ended it that quickly. I wouldn't learn anything from this. I don't want to you to take it easy on me, I want you to come at me with everything you've got so I can overcome it and grow stronger." He raised the cloth. "Now are we going to do this or am I wasting my time?"

She opened her mouth and caught herself just in time. Her cheeks glowed, and a strip of cloth appeared around her face, neatly gagging her. She kept her eyes on him and raised a hand, forming a grey, sturdy looking baton.

That was more like it.

Without another word, he whipped the binding cloth at her, unraveling it in an attempt to wrap it around her neck. She swung the baton to block, and the cloth wrapped around it instead. She pushed a button on the baton and spikes shot out, piercing and entangling the cloth. Her hand glowed a large metal weight formed on the end of her weapon. She dropped it and stepped away, leaving the cloth hopelessly tangled.

She smirked through the gag and charged him, another baton forming in her other hand as she moved. Shinsho grimaced. He wanted to back up, but knew it was useless—the cloth was still tangled around his neck and that weight looked too heavy to move—so instead he moved forward, stretching another strip of cloth between both hands to block the baton before kicking out at her.

She formed a metal shield to block the blow and pushed against him, throwing him off balance. The sight of her glowing stomach was the only warning he got before an iron pole shot out and slammed into his side, sending him sprawling. Yaozorozu stood over him, pointing the baton at his face. Her eyes glinted as if to say 'gotcha'.

"Yeah, you got me." He sighed, glancing at the pole that she slammed into him. It had a blunt in, but how hard would it have been for her to make it sharp? If this was a real fight, he'd be bleeding out right now.

She offered him a hand and helped him to his feet. He moved over to her dropped baton and set about untangling the cloth from the spikes. He'd have to look out for that in future, maybe make it so he could unwrap himself from the cloth quicker. Not a bad lesson. "Didn't know you could shoot things out of you like that."

Yaozorozu reached up and pulled down the gag. "I can only do that with simple things." She explained. "Like something that's just solid iron. Also I can't really shoot it out. It was more like I was making a long pole and you got in the way. It's not like I can fire a cannon ball out of my stomach or something."

"Good to know." he answered. He'd seen her get pushed back by the pole too, it had only knocked him over because he'd been off balance and she hadn't. He made a note to be look out for that in the future as he finally got the cloth untangled and stood, turning back to face her. She'd already fixed the gag back in place.

He readied his cloth and moved forward to meet her.

* * *

Shinsou stared at the shackle around his leg, traced his eyes down the short chain to the anchor that wouldn't have looked out of place on the side of a cruise ship, then back to Yaozorozu.

"Seriously?" he asked wearily.

She shrugged apologetically. Her hand glowed and a key formed in it. She pulled down the gag. "Give up?"

He nodded with a sigh and held out his hand for the key. In the distance he could still hear the sound of angry screams and explosions. It sounded like Explodey was having fun.

* * *

She swung her staff at him, he managed to slip passed it. Her belly glowed, but he was already moving and the pole that shot out flew harmlessly passed. This was either the sixth round or the seventh, he couldn't be sure. All he did know was that he had yet to win a single one.

It was ridiculous. She could just make anything she wanted at the drop of a hat. Body armor, weaponry, traps and tricks galore, _anything_.

If he was a one-trick pony, then she was the opposite.

He could feel his frustration mounting as she intercepted the cloth again with another pole, but he quashed it. It wouldn't help, he _knew_ it wouldn't help.

He broke off and backtracked to put some distance between them, scrambling over the iron bars littering the ground. He couldn't take her head-on.

Surprise. Surprise.

She came after him slowly, twirling her bow staff. He could see perspiration beading her brow and she was breathing hard, so at least she wasn't beating him without a sweat. But he got the feeling that was more from her overusing her quirk more than anything else.

He crouched, ready to clash again before pausing, staring over her shoulder. He straightened up. "Professor," he said neutrally.

She froze immediately and turned to look, but there was nobody there.

She stiffened and spun back around just in time for the binding cloth to wrap around her neck, working as intended for _once_. He hauled on the cloth with all his strength. She made a choking noise around the gag and stumbled forward. He charged, knocking her over with a full body tackle.

They landed hard, her face down with him on top. One of her arms was pinned beneath her, but the other was free. It arched back towards him awkwardly, palm aglow, but he wasn't about to wait and see what she was making. Channeling all his frustration, he grabbed her by the wrist and slammed the palm against the ground, and whatever she had been making clacked against the ground half-formed.

He had a knee in her back, an elbow against the nape of her neck, keeping her face firmly pressed against the ground. She struggled for a moment, then her shoulders began to glow and Shinsou's heart sunk. A pair of iron bars began to form, but slowly and they only rose a few inches before stopping and falling away to clink against the pavement.

Shinsou blinked. The girl went limp beneath him she twisted her head to meet his eyes and grunted. Understanding, he rolled off her and climbed to her feet. Yaozorozu rolled onto her back and lay there panting. She pulled down the gag and gave him a tired smile.

"Well done, you got me."

He stared at her, not really feeling anything that could be called satisfaction—as though he'd limped across the finish line just in time to see star runner receive their gold medal. "Only because of a trick."

"And I fell for it." She countered. "It counts."

He eyed her uncertainly, before shifting his eyes to the tiny bars that hadn't fully formed and wondering if she had taken it easy on him.

"My quirk uses up the lipids in my body." She answered, seeming to read his mind. "I've used them all up." Her stomach gave an audible grumbled and she flushed slightly. "I think I could really go for lunch right now." She held out a hand. "Might helping me up?"

His belly gave off a grumble of his own, and he shrugged before helping her up. As he did so, his eyes fell on the thing she'd been trying to make before he pinned her arm. He crouched and picked it up. It wasn't iron or some other metal, it looked like it was some kind of plastic box.

"What was this going to be?"

Yaozorozu looked sheepish. "It… uh… was going to be a taser." His head whipped around to stare at her and she smiled weakly. "Sorry. I was panicking and it was the first thing that came to mind. Still, good job you stopped me, right?"

He turned away. How was he supposed to keep up with these lunatics _?_

"I think I'm done with this for the day."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **I decided to make Ojiro hold a bit of a grudge, since having** _ **everybody**_ **immediately be friends with Shinsou seems unrealistic. Don't worry, they'll get there. Because friendship is Not A Choice, it's just that sometimes it's not immediate. But seriously, Ojiro has a solid reason for not liking him. The sports festival was a big deal, and Shinsou sort of undermined his chance—or at least that's what it feels like to Ojiro. It's perfectly reasonable to hold on to a bit of bitterness about that.**

 **I struggled a bit with the Yaozorozu vs. Shinsou bit. I didn't want it to be totally one-sided. But for one-on-one fights, Shinsou does not have a lot going for him if they know about his quirk.**

 **If you're inclined to share your thoughts on this chapter, or suggestions for future ones, I'd love to hear them!**


	4. Wanna Hear A Joke?

**Another chapter? Man, I** _ **am**_ **riding quite a wave of inspiration.**

 **As always, any reviews or feedback would be much appreciated. I'll need** _ **something**_ **to keep me going once that initial wave of enthusiasm dries up.**

 **But for now, I shall surf on!**

 **Chapter four: Wanna hear a joke?**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Kirishima put his hands behind his head and sunk himself deeper into the common room armchair with a contented sigh.

He was still worn out from his sparring matches with Shoji. That guy was one tough dude. Shoji may not have been able to hit hard enough to get through his quirk, but he hadn't let that slow him down. Shoji had just come straight at him, grabbing him with, like, twenty hands, and wrestled him to the ground.

It had been like fighting a dozen people at once, Kirishima hadn't been able to do much against the guy's physical strength. He needed a running start to build up the momentum for a really strong punch and Shoji hadn't let him have that.

All the defense in the world wasn't much use if you couldn't move or hit back. He'd even tried his Red Riot Unbreakable, he'd nearly been able to force shoji off him and jabbing his hardened hair at the guy's face. But Shoji had held on until the form wore off.

Kirishima ran his fingers through his spiky hair, wondering if he could make spikes grow all over his body or something. _That_ would have gotten Shoji off him. But oh well, something to think about for later.

"So, Yaozarozu," he said, tilting his head to look at the girl resting on the couch. "You fought our new guy. How'd he do?"

"Well," she began. "He… tried very hard."

"Uh oh." Kirishima winced sympathetically.

"He managed to catch me in his quirk almost immediately," she added hurriedly. "So if it had been for real, he would have won. But after that…" she shrugged. "I gagged myself, so he had no choice but to fight hand to hand."

"You were gagged!" Mineta said from his place on the floor. The small boy covered in minor burns, which he was busy holding a couple of icepacks against. "That sounds hot!"

Not bothering to get up, Tsu's tongue shot out from her place next to Yaozorozu and smacked him.

"Ow!" he whined indignantly. "Hey, don't hit me! I'm still injured from my fight with Bakugo! Where's the sympathy?"

"Just go to Recovery Girl, dude." Kaminari said. "She could have you back to normal in, like, five seconds."

"No way!" Mineta stuck out his tongue. "I'm not letting her put her lips on me. I'm not interested old ladies."

"Once someone who must lean on others has their support taken away, it's no surprise they can't stand on their own," said Ojiro. The tailed boy was sitting cross-legged on the carpet, gently massaging his tail. Kirishima vaguely remembered he'd had to spar with Sato. Ojiro had probably strained his tail grappling with the sugar-powered muscleman.

"He didn't do very well after that." Yaozorozu agreed, frowning slightly at him. "He did manage to get me once at the end, but that's only I'd created so many things that I ran out of steam." She frowned. "He… didn't seem very satisfied with the victory."

"I can imagine," Tsu nodded. "If he can't use his quirk, he'll always be fighting an uphill battle." Kirishima tried to imagine facing off against any of his classmates without his quirk and winced again. All the manly resolve in the world wouldn't amount to much when you had something like Dark Shadow baring down on you.

"He kept trying to attack me with that cloth, but he's nowhere near as good at using it as Eraser Head. I could mostly keep it at bay with my quirk or turn it against him."

"Where is he anyway?" Kaminari asked. "I swung by his room to invite him to chill down here with us, but he wasn't there."

"I saw him going towards one of the sparring buildings." Tsu volunteered. "I think he's having private lessons with professor Aizawa."

"One-on-one lessons with the big A?" said Sero, looking up from his phone. "Ugh. I'm getting tired just thinking about it." Kirishima nodded in agreement. It was good to know the new guy was pushing himself hard to catch up with the rest of them, but that still sounded pretty rough.

He wondered what kind of trials the guy was going through right now?

* * *

"Can you pass the purple crayon?" Eri asked.

"Sure." Shinsou picked up the stick of wax and handed it to the girl, who smiled at him and got to work scribbling on the paper in front of her. Shinsou watched her idly, waiting for Professor Aizawa to show. It had been a bit weird the first time he'd shown up to one of these private lessons and the girl had been there. But he'd long since grown use to the seven-year old's presence.

His body was still aching from the bruises Yaozorozu had given him, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. He had to get better. Letting his opponent beat him up until they got tired didn't strike him as much of a winner strategy. In the real world, the first round would be the only one that mattered. A villain wouldn't let him get up and try again if he failed.

He looked down at the binding cloth in his hands. It was a strong defensive weapon. But it would be a long time before he could use it offensively like Aizawa did. He was thinking about getting some kind of offensive weapon to augment it. It wouldn't hurt to have options… maybe he _should_ pay a trip to the support department.

Eventually Eri put down the crayon and picked up her paper, holding it up in his direction and examined it critically.

"Yeah," she said, slowly nodding her head. "I think I finally got it."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "Were you drawing me?"

"Uh huh." She nodded, turning the paper around. "What do you think."

Shinsou tilted his head to one side and squinted. The drawing was of a stick figure with a spikey mass of purple on its head. It honestly looked more like a pinecone with arms than anything else. He looked into eyes, staring up at him with sparkling expectation.

"Yep." He answered blandly. "You nailed it."

Eri's smile doubled as she put the paper back on the table and resumed scribbling. Shinsou looked up when he heard the door open and saw Aizawa step in. The man nodded towards the empty center of the classroom and Shinsou moved to join him, loosening the binding cloth around his neck.

Without any further ceremony, the teacher loosened his own cloth and whipped it towards Shinsou's head. He ducked, letting it fly over his head before attempting to copy the move. For once, he managed it perfectly, although to no greater effect.

Then the older man moved closer and the sparring match _really_ started.

"Yaozorozu gave you quite a pounding today." Aizawa said bluntly. Crouching low and throwing his leg out to neatly sweep Shinsou's legs out from underneath him.

"She did," Shinsou nodded. Hopping neatly over the teacher's leg—the older man had already got him with that one twice before. Despite that last round, there was no question of which one of them had been the winner. The circular bruise on his side where she had hit him with the that iron pole ached, although he had no time to stop and massage it.

"Did she really tie an anchor to your leg?" Eri asked from the sideline. "Mr. Aizawa said that happened."

"She did." Shinsou repeated, not taking his eyes off the professor. He knew the moment he got the slightest bit distracted, he'd end up flat on his back, staring at the ceiling and wondering what happened. Aizawa wasn't a cruel teacher, but he didn't like to repeat himself. If you made a mistake once, he'd tell you what you did wrong and what the consequences might have been.

If you made it again, he'd _demonstrate_ those consequences.

"At least I managed to avoid total defeat, right?" Shinsou said.

Aizawa snorted, his hair flaring up as he activated his quirk before answering. He usually did whenever Shinsou threw a question at him like that, but occasionally the older man slipped up.

He had a couple photos on his phone of the teacher down on all fours giving Eri a horsey back ride to prove it—Aizawa never needed to know.

"There is that, true. But I think you know that your performance was far from excellent." the teacher answered. "Yaozorozu's quirk is a tricky one to fight close up, especially if you don't have a physical quirk that can take her out before she has a chance to think."

"How would you have dealt with it, in my place?"

"Either gone at her aggressively or-," the man cut himself off, swinging his arm around in a blow too fast to dodge. Shinsou raised his arm to block, and succeeded, but the winced as the force of the blow nearly made him stumble—that was going to leave a bruise. "Don't block, _deflect_." Aizawa chided, capitalizing on his distraction to raise up a leg and kick him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

Aizawa stood over him, looking stern. "You're not Kirishima, either learn how to redirect a blow or wrap your arms in the cloth to absorb the force, then wrap it around _their_ arm and pull them off balance… be careful to not do that to someone with super strength." He added after, glancing away with an annoyed grimace.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "Did you do that once?" he asked.

"That's not important." The teacher answered sharply, reaching down to pull him to his feet. "As I was saying. Yaoyorozu's quirk takes time and forethought to use. She can make almost anything, but that also means she can have too many choices to quickly decide. You may have noticed she was mostly popping out iron poles, putting the pressure on her keeps her on the defensive and can make her panic. If she is rushed, the things she makes might be shoddy." Aizawa stepped back, raising his arms to signal that the spar was about to resume. "Although she's come quite far in her ability to think and react quickly, so with your unaggressive quirk this might not be the best strategy."

Shinsou decided to attack first, whipping out two bands of binding cloth at once, their weighted ends swinging for the older man. "Alternatively," he continued, sidestepping and lashing out with his own cloth, which wrapped around both of his and tied them together. "You could keep your distance. Make her attack you and focus on dodging. Everything she makes draws energy from her. If you can force her to expend too much energy chasing you down, she might just pass out form hunger or make a mistake you can exploit. She can make net launchers and other tricky projectiles, so I'd recommend avoiding open areas so you can use cover to intercept her attacks. This is a good strategy against most flashy quirks; the more powerful they are, the faster they burn out the person using them. There are exceptions, but I've found this to be a reliable method."

Aizawa grabbed the tied-up cloth and yanked it, pulling Shinsou toward him. The mind-controller's eyes widened as his own cloth tightened around his arm. He knew he wouldn't have time to unravel it, so he dove forward into a roll, attempting to sweep Aizawa's legs out from under him. But the teacher, expecting it, promptly scooping him off the ground and put him in a headlock.

"Not a bad try. It might have worked if I hadn't taught you the move." He answered. "Still, glad to see you're listening to me." He was about to say more when the door was thrown open with a crash, making them both look over.

A woman Shinsou didn't recognize stepped into the sparring room. The first thing that caught his attention was her teal hair, the orange bandana, and overly baggy shorts that were a stripped combination of both colors—it was all quite an assault on the eyes. The second thing he noticed was her broad, friendly smile. The third thing he noticed was how Aizawa stiffened when he saw her, as though he'd spotted a rattlesnake he'd been about to step on.

The woman looked at them both, her eyes zeroing in on the matching strips of cloth around their necks, and then examining their faces. Her mouth dropped open.

"Aizawa!" She exclaimed. "You scoundrel! You didn't tell me you had a child! Have you been cheating on me all these years?"

"He's not my son, you have no entitlement to any information about my life, and we aren't in a relationship." Aizawa deadpanned, releasing Shinsou.

"Lies!" The woman declared, pointing a finger at him dramatically. "Except for that last one. We should fix that." She grinned. "Marry me?"

"No."

"Boo." She stuck out her tongue and, to Shinsou's fascination, blew a raspberry at the man.

He stared back and forth between the two adults, wondering if Aizawa had cut the oxygen off from his brain with that headlock and he'd started hallucinating or something. The newcomer looked like she was having the time of her life, Aizawa just looked resigned.

"Well?" The woman asked, striding forward. "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing here?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me. Also, I don't care."

"And after I came all this way, just to see you." She threw her head back, covering her eyes with one arm and giving a very loud, very obviously fake, sob. "You're just too cruel!"

Shinsou glanced at the teacher. If someone could roll their eyes without actually doing it, Aizawa was accomplishing it, but Shinsou couldn't tell if he was actually annoyed or not. He did look a little bit uncomfortable, like a rabbit was attacking his leg and he wasn't sure what to do about it. Shinsou rubbed his neck, it was still a little sore from when the teacher grabbed him.

"Hey dad?" he asked innocently. "Who is this lady?"

"Aha!" the fake sobs cut off in an instant as the lady grinned triumphantly. "The truth comes out! Aizawa, you cad!"

The glare the man leveled his way left Shinsou in no doubt that he was going to pay for that, but he couldn't help but smirk. Sparring with Aizawa left him with no short supply of bruises, so he'd take what victories he could get.

On the sidelines, Eri giggled, drawing the lady's attention. "A second one?" she demanded, falling to her knees and raising her hands into the air. "Aizawa, why?"

"I have some papers to grade." The man sighed. Stepping passed her and heading for the door.

"Oh hey, Aizawa!" the woman's voice lost its dramatic tone immediately. "C'mon, don't be like that."

"Goodbye, Emi."

"Oh darn." The woman sighed as the door shut behind him. She hung her head. "I think I may have laid it on a _bit_ too thick that time."

Shinsou shifted uncomfortably. "I'm… not actually his son." He said, not sure what else to say.

"Actually, I do know about you, Shinsou." The woman's smile returned in a heartbeat. "I was in the stands when you made your great debut in the sports festival." She held out a hand, "Emi Fukukado. Or Ms. Joke, if you prefer." Shinsou shook it. "I know you're not his son. I just said that because I think the way his eye twitches when I jump to conclusions is cute." She paused, examining him. "Or, at least, I'm _pretty_ sure you're not. You've got an…" she paused, searching for the word. "Aizawa-y air about you. It's the gotta be the bags under your eyes."

Shinsou blinked at her. "…Thanks?"

"Don't mention it!' she said happily, letting go of his hand moving over towards Eri, who looked a little nervous at the sudden attention as the woman crouched in front of her.

"I don't think I know your name, Sweetie."

"It's Eri." She said in a small voice. "Mr. Aizawa has been taking care of me."

"That man." Emi huffed, rolling her eyes. "Never tells me anything, I swear."

"Do you actually know each other?" Shinsou asked, the way Aizawa had left made him think the man had almost been scared or something.

"Oh sure," Emi answered, taking a seat next to Eri. "He and I go way back. It's just that I have a great sense of humor, while he thinks that laughter is a disease and I'm patient zero."

"Do you like him?" Eri asked curiously. "You asked him to marry you, y'know, I like mommies and daddies are?"

"That's probably another reason he's always so quick to skedaddle." Emi answered with a grin and, Shinsou couldn't help but notice, not answering the first question. She leaned closer to Eri, as though to tell her a secret, and stage-whispered "he's _really_ shy."

Eri giggled and the woman's smile grew even wider.

"I'm a teacher at Ketsubutsu Academy." She offered, looking back at him. "You know, it's a shame you're in UA, Shinsou. I would have liked to have you in my class."

"And, why is that?" he asked cautiously.

"Our quirks are kinda similar. We can both force someone to do something against their will." Shinsou blinked.

"You can?"

She nodded. "I can make 'em laugh."

He raised an eyebrow.

She raised one right back and then went cross-eyed. He wasn't expecting it and he snorted. Then suddenly he was doubled over, laughing his head off. The surprise lasted for a few moments, then turned to alarm when he found he couldn't stop. He clenched his hands on his knees, trying to get a grip as his body shook with great bouts of laughter that seemed to be physically bubbling up from inside his chest.

Then it stopped.

He stood still for a moment, chest heaving for a few moments, before looking up at her with wide-eyes. Beside her, Eri was staring at him like he'd grown a second head. Ms. Joke nodded sympathetically. "Everyone can use a good laugh now and then. But imagine being forced to do that for ten minutes straight. Or an hour. Or a week."

Well that was… terrifying.

The woman was looking at him with a faint smile and serious eyes. "The road to being a pro has not always been a walk in the park for me. I wouldn't have passed U.A.'s entrance hero entrance exam if I'd applied here. Nobody takes my quirk seriously unless I do it to them, and even when I'm making a villain bust a gut, I still need to be able to physically take them down as quickly—which isn't easy if their something along the lines of a two-ton shark person. If ever you want any tips that don't involve putting you in a headlock, I'm your girl." She winked at him.

Shinsou blinked, flushing slightly.

Ms. Joke's grin nearly split her face in two. "Seriously, it's like looking at a mini-zawa!" she laughed. "So serious, so driven! So fun to tease!" she sighed. "At least you don't run off the moment you get flustered." She sighed. "I miss being able to make him laugh, he's just such a serious man. The silliest thing he does nowadays walk around with a sleeping bag and take naps wherever he can."

Shinsou looked at her for a long moment, then smirked.

He liked Professor Aizawa, the teacher was the one who gave him his first true chance to be a hero, after all. But the man had also given him quite a few bruises. Surely, having a little bit more fun at the man's expense couldn't hurt?

He reached for his phone.

"I think," he said lightly. "That I have some pictures you'd like to see."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Welp, there's another chapter. Gradually working towards doing bits in POV's besides Shinsou's to keep it interesting.**

 **Ms. Joke is a blast to write, if fact she practically writes herself.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed it, please feel free to let me know what you thought.**


	5. Moving Forward

**And so we're moving along with whatever inspiration happens to strike me at the time.**

 **Chapter Five: Moving Forward.**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"There's my little mind twister!"

"Hey dad." Shinsou grinned, happy to see his father standing in front of the packed car. Now he could finally get his room set up the way he wanted it; the blank walls had been starting to make him think he was in a psyche ward or something.

"There's someone else here to see you too." His dad answered, opening up the trunk. A black and orange blur shot out, zipping across the pavement and climbing up Shinsou's leg like a tree before settling itself across his shoulders and started purring contentedly.

"Hello, Set." Shinsou smiled as he stroked the tabby's head.

"I gotta tell ya, Shinsy, that little bastard has been a nightmare since you left." His dad huffed. "Tearing up the furniture, yowling for us to feed him, then not eating when we give him food, tangling himself around our feet when we're at the top of the stairs." he lowered his voice. "He scares me."

Shinsou glanced at the cat, who blinked innocently back.

"I'd believe that."

"So, we gonna unload your junk or what?"

"I guess so."

"Hey Shinso!" He turned and saw Midoriya, Iida, and Ochaco approaching. He nodded a greeting.

"We see that you are unpacking your possessions and wish to know if you desired assistance in moving into your dorm room." Iida said, loud as backfiring truck. "It is, after all, on the third floor."

"I mean, if you're offering." Shinsou shrugged, tilting his head at the car. It wasn't like he had anything embarrassing in there…

Shinsou paused, sending a sudden suspicious glance toward his father. The man had a mischievous streak a mile wide, it would be just like him to slip something irritating among the luggage. But… nah, his dad knew how much being in the Hero Course meant to him, he wouldn't do anything to make that more difficult.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends, Shinsy?" his father asked innocently.

Or maybe not. He _was_ a dad.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Are you Shinsou's father?" Iida asked, moving over to the car and picking up a duffel bag.

"I'm his little brother, actually," said Shinsou's father.

"He's my dad." Shinsou corrected automatically.

"Spoilsport," the man huffed. "Hitoshi Fuminshō, at your service."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Midoriya bowed.

"So I'm assuming that's your cat?" Ochaco asked, taking two boxes at once and making them float just above her hands.

"I'm his human, if that's what you mean." Shinsou answered, eyeing the floating boxes. She'd taken the two biggest ones and was carrying them like they were feathers. Yet another ridiculously practical quirk.

"He's very cute."

"He is, and he knows it too." Shinsou dismissed the envy with the ease of long practice and gave the cat an affectionate glare. The tabby blinked back innocently as if to say: 'who? _me_?'.

"I didn't think you'd be much of an animal person."

"I like cats." Shinsou answered, scratching Set behind his ears. "They're kinda evil, but lots of people like them anyway." She blinked, clearly not quite certain how to respond to that. "Also, they're fluffy."

"Is he going to be staying in the dorms?" she asked. "I'm pretty sure we're allowed to have pets. Koda has a bunny and nobody has complained."

"He better be," said Fuminshō. "I'm not letting that little terror back in my house without Shinsy to keep him entertained. He brought back a bat last night and left it on my wife's pillow. We don't even know how he caught it!"

"How would you go about keeping him out if he wanted to get in?" Shinsou asked, patting the cat's head. Set had always seemed to be getting in and out of locked rooms when people weren't looking.

"I could keep him out." Fuminshō huffed. "A man's house is his castle, therefore what I say goes."

"Does mom know that?" Shinsou asked innocently.

His father wilted slightly. "…Of course she does."

"Makes sense." Shinsou nodded. "After all, she's the one who decides what you say."

"You know, have I told you how glad I am that you're finally moving out of the house? It's going to be wonderful to know that you're on your way to achieving your dream somewhere out from underneath my feet."

"I'll miss you too, dad."

Between the five of them, they managed to get everything out of the car in one load before setting off into the dorms. Set leapt off Shinsou's shoulders onto the box in Midoriya's arms, curling himself up in the perfect place to make it difficult for the boy to see where he was going.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Hitoshi," Midoriya began, trying in vain to see around the ball of fur to keep himself from bumping into anything. "What's your quirk?"

"I don't mind at all." Fuminshō grinned. Shinsou rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming. "It's insomnia." He leaned down and looked the boy in the eye, stretching his mouth into a slightly too wide grin in a way that emphasized the bags under his eyes. "I haven't slept a day in my life…does it show?"

Midoriya leaned back slightly, looking unnerved. "Uh…" Shinsou watched the boy's face in mild fascination. You could actually _see_ Midoriya's desire to know more overpowering his uncertainty. "How does that work?" he asked. "Do you just not get tired? Or is it that you want to sleep, but can't? If it's the latter, that sounds like it might be kind of terrible." The quirk-enthusiast frowned. "Sleep is important, don't people start hallucinating if they go too long without it?"

"I wouldn't know about that." Fuminshō smiled, glancing up around the main living area. "Say, this is a pretty nice place. I especially like the dancing purple elephants."

"Ignore him." Shinsou rolled his eyes. "He thinks he's hilarious."

"It's true." the man nodded mournfully. "It happens when you become a dad. Nobody knows why. I don't actually see any elephants, by the way." he grinned at Midoriya. "I'm fairly certain I've never hallucinated, although if I was I would be the last to know, wouldn't I? I can't say I've never gotten tired, but as near as I can tell I don't get as tired as other people. It's kind of a hard thing to compare, because I've never known anything else."

"I suppose that makes sense," Midoriya said thoughtfully, nearly tripping on the stairs as Set arched his back into a stretch. He turned toward Shinsou, "You have the same bags under your eyes, do you not sleep either?"

"Wow, rude." Ochaco laughed. Midoriya's eyes went wide and he started to splutter out an apology, but Shinsou waved a hand carelessly to show he didn't care.

"He didn't inherit my quirk." His father answered. "Thank god for that, I have it on good authority that I was every parent's worst nightmare: a child that wouldn't sleep." The words carried just a hint of pride. "They were always telling me they hoped my children would have that quirk too, so I would see what it was like." He pretended to wipe some sweat off his brow. "Dodged that bullet."

"I can sleep." Shinsou assured him. "Although I don't think I've ever been able to for more than six hours."

"A partial inheritance perhaps?" Midoriya asked, looking like he wanted to pull out his notebook and jot that down. Shinsou half expected him to put his box down and do just that. "Hmm… I wonder if Midnight's quirk would work on you? She can put people to sleep."

His dad looked intrigued. "She was the announcer at the sports festival, yes?" His grin turned into something that reminded Shinsou of the way Mineta had looked the other day. "That sounds like a lady I'd like to meet… for science, of course. Maybe you can introduce me to her, Shinsy."

Shinsou gave him a flat look. "Sure, just come over one day. I'll be sure to tell mom who you're coming to meet, so she doesn't worry." The man's grin vanished.

"You know, that sounds interesting and all, but I'm afraid I'm gonna need a raincheck on that. I'm a pretty busy guy. I could barely get a day off work to bring Shinsy his junk, after all."

"What a shame." Shinsou rolled his eyes.

"He gets that attitude from his mom," Fuminshō stage-whispered to Midoriya. "But don't let it drive you off, he's really a great big, gooey teddy bear underneath the snark. He gets that from her too."

Shinsou scowled, his face growing hot as he heard Ochaco giggling behind him. They'd reached the outside of his room, so he put down his box and started to push his father back down the stairs. "Just leave the stuff on the floor," he called over his shoulder. "C'mon dad. Let's get you back to your oh-so-busy job before you get fired."

"Just a great big fluffy kitty cat!" His dad called back, laughing as he let himself be pushed away.

"Was that really necessary?" Shinsou asked, once he'd gotten the great big embarrassment of a father in back to the car.

His dad narrowed his eyes, looking genuinely puzzled. "…is that a trick question?"

Shinsou sighed. "Goodbye dad. Thanks for coming."

The man grinned, and forcefully pulled him into a hug. "Don't mention it." he pushed him out to arm length. "I'm proud of you, kiddo. You made it into hero course, just like you always wanted." He ruffled Shinsou's hair.

Shinsou felt a smile tugging at his lips despite himself. "…Thanks, dad."

His father smiled at him, then said. "And you're sure there's no chance of you getting me Midnight's number?"

The three musketeers were still milling around outside his door when he made it back. He gave them a quizzical look. Were they going to offer to help him unpack? Generous, but unnecessary.

"Your dad seems like a nice person." Midoriya said.

"He's certainly a person." Shinsou allowed.

"Do you want any help with…" He gestured to the pile of boxes. Shinsou shook his head, he'd rather set up his room on his own.

"Well, if that's the case, there was something else we were wondering about." Ochaco said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that after your room is set up, we can all come and take a look at it?"

"…Why?"

"We did it with almost everyone else's room when we first moved in," she explained. "It was kinda like a welcome to the dorms competition. You don't have to do it if you don't want to." She added quickly. "I just thought it would be fun."

Shinsou thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. They had helped him carry all his stuff up, saving him at least three or four trips. He supposed he could give them that, if only for sparing him from his father's horrible assault on comedians everywhere. "I suppose I don't have a problem with that. Not today though, I have other things to do."

"Great!" she smiled. "We'll leave you too it then." they left him alone, moving off down to their rooms. Well, not _quite_ alone.

"I guess you are staying with me." Shinsou said, as Set climbed back onto his shoulders. He eyed the various bags and boxes on the floor. No doubt his dad had slipped some toys and cat food into one of them. Well, he'd find them when he unpacked. He bent down and picked up the first box.

* * *

Shinsou looked up at the support department building. It was certainly one of the more beat-up looking buildings on the campus. A number of the windows on the second floor were broken, all concentrated around one area, actually. The concrete around that area was also a slightly different color than the surrounding walls, like it was… newer.

That was probably the handiwork of that girl with the pink dreadlocks—he didn't even want to think of her name lest it summon her. He brushed his fingers along his speaker, it had been one of her creations. She'd been very eager to help make them, which had been nice.

Her form of trial and error to get it to work… not so nice. With any luck, he could avoid her and talk to Power Loader instead. He'd seemed relatively sane.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the building, wandering off towards the workshop area. Too his relief, Power Loader _was_ there, huddled over a workbench, and with not so much as a single lock of pink hair in sight.

The pro hero looked up from his work when he heard someone approaching. He seemed to stare at Shinsou for a moment, his eyes hidden by that impractical-looking helmet of his. Recognition dawned and he grinned.

"Ah," he said "I know you. You're Aizawa's special project."

…He wasn't sure how he felt about that description, but okay.

"So, what brings you to the support department?" Power Loader asked, slipping out from behind his workbench. "Is your speaker malfunctioning? Hatsume's busy with a special assignment I gave her, but I could call her down if you really need her."

"No, it's working perfectly." Shinsou assured him quickly, brushing the support equipment with his fingers. "I'm actually looking for a new piece of equipment."

"I see," the man nodded. "What did you have in mind?"

"Something that might give me an edge in close combat." Shinsou answered. "I have the binding cloth, but…" Power Loader held up a hand.

"I think I understand," said the Pro Hero, sitting himself back on a stool. "When Aizawa told me he was training you to use the cloth, I wondered if you might come to me about something like this." He shook his head, pointing a finger at the white strips around Shinsou's neck. "Aizawa makes using that look easy. But It's ridiculous to think _anyone_ could just pick it up and use it the way he does."

Shinsou nodded, looking away. He'd been so excited when the teacher had presented him with it. Honored, even. He could remember sitting in front of the TV when he was younger, watching the rare broadcast of the dark horse pro hero Eraser Head taking on groups of villains at a time. Even though he didn't have a quirk that let him throw buildings around or something, the hero could still throw around the villains like they were nothing.

But the cloth was so _hard_ to use. And whenever he thought of facing someone like Todoroki or Bakugo or even Midoriya with nothing but a few strips of cloth… Well, he couldn't help but feel that the tool and his skills came up short.

"I'm not saying you should give up trying to use it." Power Loader went on. "But I'm saying that for now, while you're still getting the hang of it, you get yourself something that's a little easier to use."

"I'd… like that, please," Shinsou answered, trying not to feel like he was failing Aizawa in some way.

"And I believe I have the _perfect_ baby for that!"

Shinsou stiffened as the eager voice spoke right behind him. He turned his head slowly, knowing what he was going to see and very much wishing he wouldn't. Golden eyes with X's in them—like the crosshairs of a rifle pointed straight at him—and a grin that was an inch away from his own face—like his own personal demon from a caffeine-fueled fever dream.

"Hello there, mind jacker boy." Hatsume purred. "Couldn't get enough of my precious babies, hmm? I don't blame you. I just finished putting together my first prototype for a portable laser canon, and I was just looking for someone to help me test it."

"Hold it right there, Hatsume!" Power Loader barked, shaking Shinsou out of his hypnotized horror and giving him the chance to step away from the quite-probably unhinged girl. Seriously, he knew he was one to talk, but the size of the bags under her eyes made her look like she got even less sleep than his dad.

"What?" the girl demanded, looking up at the teacher.

"I thought I told you that you're not doing anything until that giant hole in the workshop wall is fixed!" Power Loader said.

"It _is_ fixed!" Mei shouted back.

"Is that so?" The pro hero crossed his arms. "So, if I go up to the workshop right now, I _won't_ see a giant hole?"

"You will not." Mei huffed, crossing her arms indignantly.

"And I won't see… oh, I don't know, a pile of equipment stacked up in front of where the hole was? Or maybe a giant cabinet?"

Mei didn't say anything.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Power Loader shook his head. "When I said fix it, I didn't mean make it look like there's no problem. I meant _fix_ it."

Mei groaned, rolling her eyes. "Oh, come _on!_ It will take me simply _ages_ to repair set a load of cement. I have at least five _brilliant_ ideas for new babies that I have to work on right away. I don't have time to fix holes! Cementoss could fix it in three seconds. Can't you just call him?"

"Ken is taking the day off." Power Loader shot back, "And even if he wasn't I'd still make you fix it. I'm sick of calling him down here every other hour to clean up the results of your carelessness. The way I figure it, if _you're_ the one who has to clean up the mess, you'll put more effort into figuring out how not to make it."

"But that's dumb!"

"There's more to building support items than just adding more firepower until something blows up." Power Loader answered. He looked like he wanted to yell again, but he paused, took a deep breath, and continued in a more level tone. "You do good work Hatsume, but you let your enthusiasm get the better of you too much. If you can't get that under control, then you'll only wind up doing more harm than good." He pointed one of his iron-shod fingers at the stairs. "Now go."

"…Fine." She rolled her golden eyes and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Hatsume?" Power Loader called.

"What?" she asked grumpily, jerking her head around to glare at him.

"I bet you a box of my finest circuitry that you can't build a functional device to fix the wall in under three hours."

She stared. "Is that so?" a sly grin creeping across her face. Those circuits wouldn't happen to be the ones I've been asking you to let me use for weeks now, are they?"

"Those would be the ones, yes."

The girl's golden eyes began to sparkle. "Well, if you're going to go and make it a _challenge…_ "

Power Loader held up a finger. "I hear so much as _one_ explosion, and you can kiss those circuits goodbye, got it?"

"It's a deal!" The girl cackled, her enthusiasm doing a one-eighty as she took the stairs two at a time.

Shinsou watched her go, his jaw hanging slightly slack, feeling like he'd just had the narrowest escape ever.

"Is… is everyone who comes to U.A. insane?" he asked. "Or does that happen after they get here?"

"Truth be told, I've wondered about that myself." Power Loader grunted, shaking his head.

"Thank you." Shinsou said, grateful for the rescue.

"Don't mention it." the pro answered. "You're far from the first I've had to save from the dreaded Mei Enthusiasm. But anyway." He turned and headed for a nearby door, gesturing for him to follow. "Come on. Let's see if I can't help you find what you're looking for… _without_ anything exploding."

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

 **So I decided to bring in one of Shinsou's parents. That idea on the internet that his dad's quirk is insomnia seemed to fit so I just decided to use that. I like comedy so he became a quintessential dad complete with jokes.**

 **Also I decided to skip the whole tragic backstory of him having crappy parents because that's very cliché and I'm just not feeling it.**

 **And then Mei. Because much like Ms. Joke, she practically writes herself.**

 **Now the only question is, what will our little mind controller's room look like?**


	6. All Aboard the SS Friendship

**Doo doo doo, writing random scenes, la la la. What's that? A Plot? Nah. We don't do that here.**

 **Chapter Six: All Aboard the S.S. Friendship**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"It's… kinda bland." Mina said as she looked around the room. There were a couple posters of jungle cats on the walls and an unnecessarily fluffy rug in the middle of the floor. But apart from that, there was nothing to really make it stand out from the room of your average teenager.

"What were you expecting?" Shinsou asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I dunno. Wooden puppets handing from the ceiling, some of those spinning black and white swirly things, maybe a couple of pocket watches swaying back and forth."

He gave her one of those flat looks, the ones he was _really_ good at. "Is your room full of boiling vats of acid?"

"What? No."

"Then why would I have any of those?"

"… Aesthetic?"

He snorted and turned away. "Have the rest of you taken your fill?" he asked, glancing around at the other people milling around the room and poking their noses into his stuff. He may have agreed to show them his room, but he hadn't half a dozen of them to virtually knock down the door and cram themselves in. Ochaco was pearing around like she was checking off boxes on a clipboard, giving him scores. "Because if so, you can leave."

"Kitty!" Mina squealed in his ear, finally spotting Set perched on top of the dresser. The cat had a habit of going unnoticed unless he wished otherwise, so Shinsou got the feeling he was taken by surprise when the pink girl rushed over to the dresser and scooped the feline up in her arms.

"Uh, Mina?" he asked nervously. The last person who had done something like that to Set had needed stitches. But the cat just blinked at the side of her head while she cuddled him, them seemed to relax into it as though it had been his idea in the first place.

"What?"

"Nevermind." Shinsou rolled his eyes. Set was blinking at everyone in the room and generally looking about as innocent as a newborn deer, the furry little liar.

"Are you certain that pets are allowed in the dorm?" Iida asked. "I am aware that Koda possess one, but I believe that to be because of his quirk. I only ask because U.A. has allowed us a lot of freedom, but it is important to respect the boundaries and rules they have set fourth for us."

"I have no idea." Shinsou shrugged, eyeing the class representative thoughtfully. Wondering how he managed to do anything in his free time while being that much of a boy scout. "I don't think there's anyone here equipped to make him leave if he doesn't want to go."

"Is this a limited-edition action figure of All Might?" Midoriya asked, his voice full of awe as he stared on the figure on the desk.

"Yes, please don't touch it."

"I would _never!"_ Midoriya answered, crouching down to stare at the little figurine in its glass case, eyes shining like street lamps. "This is one of the ones from his early days, when he first appeared and before he crushed the most of the international drug cartel." He craned his neck to get a closer look, his nose almost touching the glass. "It's even still got the cape on it! he stopped wearing those in his second year!" he looked at Shinsou in awe. "I wanted to get one of these for ages, but most of them aren't in circulation any more. how'd you get it?"

"My mom." Shinsou said, taken aback by the fascination. "I've never known her to fail on getting anything she sets her mind on." He'd asked her for an All Might action figure back when he was five. He'd expected, and would have been equally happy with, just a cheap one from the store down the street. But his mother always believed that if you were going to do something, overdo it.

Midoriya was just staring at him and… was he… was he crying? "You're such a lucky guy, Shinsou. Thank you for showing me this Rare Might."

 **"** Uh… you're welcome. Do you… do you need a minute?"

"No." Midoriya sniffed, giving him a thumbs up. "I'm good."

He was weird. He was weird about All Might.

"Well." Mina said, "I believe this has gotten sufficiently awkward. I think I'm going to leave now." She turned toward the door, Set still clutched in her arms. "Also, I'm keeping this." she said, holding the cat up.

"If you think you can, who am I to stop you?" Shinsou said wearily. If it would get them out of his room faster… Set would wander back in the middle of the night anyway, he always did. His favorite place to sleep was whatever Shinsou happened to be using as a pillow at the time, and the cat didn't believe in sharing.

The rest of the tourists took the hint and trooped out past him, wishing him a goodnight and whatnot. "Thanks for letting us in." Ochaco said brightly.

"You forced your way in, but sure. Goodnight." He yawned. Once they were gone he climbed into bed and made ready to sleep. It was about twenty minutes later he felt something jump onto the bed and a self-satisfied meow.

He turned his to see Set staring expectantly down at him. He glanced passed the cat to the very much still closed door, then to the still closed window. He stared blandly at the cat who almost seemed to be smirking.

"Whatever." He shuffled his head over so the cat could curl up and closed his eyes

* * *

Jiro put down her bass with a huff, she just wasn't feeling the music today.

She stood up and stretched her fingers before making her way down to the common room. About half a dozen of her classmates were lazing around after the day's classes. Kirishima and Kaminari looked like they were locked in an intense debate, Shinsou was beside them only looking slightly annoyed to be there. Sero was fiddling with something at one of the tables, and Mina and Ochaco were lazing together on a couch.

"What everyone up to?" Jiro asked.

"We're coming up with backup hero names for everyone." Kaminari answered, shooting her a wave.

Jiro furrowed her brow. "What's wrong with the one's we have?'

"They aren't funny."

Jiro rolled her eyes. Of course, it would be something stupid like that.

"Bakugo's is Sweaty McBoomboom." Sero said glancing up from his whatever it was.

On second thought. "… I would pay actual money to see you call him that to his face." Jiro smirked.

"I am not that strapped for cash." Sero answered. As she watched, he reached for his elbow and pulled off a piece of tape.

"What are you doing?"

"Making myself a wallet." He held up a silver rectangle and showed her how he could unfold it. "The things you can do with tape." He said brightly. "That's why I'm not strapped for cash; I never need to buy new things, 'cause if you can't fix something with duct tape, you just aren't using enough. You can even make clothes out of the stuff!"

Jiro's nose wrinkled. "I'm not sure I'd want to wear something that came out of your body."

"Hey, wool comes out of a sheep and people wear that. What's the difference?"

"You got me there." she admitted, taking a seat next to Mina. "So, what other names have we come up with?"

"Well, I'm White Lightning." Kaminari said proudly.

"Boring. How about the Thunderdolt?" Jiro smirked, making him wilt.

"The worst thing about that," he said mournfully, "is that it's so good I can't even be mad."

"Aoyoma is Lord Laserdick." Kirishima supplied.

Jiro snorted. "Gross."

"Yeah, but it was the first thing we thought of and once we did, it overshadowed everything else. I'm Rocky Road."

"And I'm the Alien Queen, because forget what Midnight says." Mina added, throwing her hands in the air. "I want to be the queen!"

"Iida is Vroom Vroom Go Fast Man," Ochaco giggled. "I'm Death from Above."

"Why are the girls getting all the badass name, and we guys are stuck with the dumb ones?" Kaminari lamented.

"It's probably because you guys are a bunch of dorks." Mina answered.

"We're not dorks!" Kaminari protested.

"I mean," Sero began. "The name we came up with for me is Stick E. Tape, and honestly that's really doing it for me. So that's pretty telling."

"Remind me to take a video next time you short out your brain." Jiro said. "Then you'll know the truth."

"Well what about you?" Kaminari shot back. "There's gotta be a dumb name we can slap on you. Like…" he frowned, clearly coming up with blank.

"Turn up for What?" Sero suggested.

"Let the beat drop?"

"That's a step in the right direction." Mina said, "But I'm not quite feeling it."

"Heartbreaker." Everyone turned to look at Shinsou.

"What?" Jiro raised an eyebrow. "You've lost me on that one."

"You use your quirk to amplify you're the sound of your heart beat to attack." Shinsou explained. "You use your heart to break things. Heartbreaker."

"I like it," Jiro smiled. It had a certain something too it. Earphone Jack had always been kind of a bland name—and maybe a little too on the nose—but she hadn't been able to think of anything better when they'd first been picking out hero names.

"That's still more badass than funny, though." Sero pointed out.

"I've never been one for jokes," Shinsou shrugged. "I blame my dad."

"Why's that?"

"He owns a book called Dad Jokes: Hi Hungry, I'm Dad Edition." The bags under his eyes seemed to grow deeper as he adopted a thousand-yard stare. "He quotes it… regularly."

They all winced in sympathy, sharing a moment of silence. Kirishima reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"You grow numb to it." Shinsou shrugged. "…eventually."

Jiro snorted, and glanced around. She saw Mineta standing unmoving in the corner, facing the wall.

"His name for Tsuyu was Horny Toad." The mind controller explained, "Since she wasn't here to hit him, I decided to put him in time out in her stead before he could get to Yaozorozu… I'll let him out in five minutes." He added, with just a hint of defensiveness.

"Such a gentleman!" Mina said sweetly, pressing her hand to her face and pretending to swoon. Shinsou looked away but not before she saw the redness tinting his face.

"We haven't been able to decide on a good one for him," Kirishima said, changing the subject. "We've been batting some ideas around, but we can't settle on one."

"It's not like I even have an actual hero name yet." Shinsou grumbled.

"You'd better decide on one fast, then." Jiro said. "Otherwise, you're gonna find yourself stuck with whatever stupid thing we come up with."

Shinsou glanced around at everyone's smiling faces and shuddered.

"Hey!" Kaminari complained. "I don't think our ideas were _that_ bad!"

"Your first idea was Mr. Mind Guy."

"… I stand by that."

"Well, everyone should stand for _something_ I guess, even if it's stupid."

"I think your name should be a question!" Mina said. "Like…" she cast her eyes around, looking for inspiration. "Like Loser Says What? That way, when you bust on the scene and a villain goes: 'Who the heck are you?' you can answer: 'Losersayswhat?' and they'll say what, and you can control them while they look stupid."

Shinsou thought it over. "That's… not an _awful_ idea." he mused. "But… Loser Says What?" he raised an eyebrow. "What are you, five?"

"Five and a _half,_ thank you very much." Mina pouted.

"How about Mind Yanker?"

"Simon Says Obey?"

"The Purple Man?"

"Wow." He answered blandly, looking up. "So many to choose from, and all of them dumb."

"Well, it'll be your name, so what have you got?" Mina said. Shinsou was quiet for a moment, looking like he was trying to decide if he should say anything or not. "C'mon dude. There's no way you haven't thought about it before. You can't just throw out a rockin' name like Heartbreaker and leave us hanging on one for yourself!"

"…Quiet Hero: Single Word."

"Single word?"

"That's all a villain needs to say for me to win."

"It suits you." Jiro said, and was rewarded with, not a smile exactly, but an appreciative glance. She got the distinct feeling that it had been one he'd been thinking about it for a long time.

"It's not bad." Mina agreed. "I mean, it's not Alien Queen, but it's alright." More people spoke up their approval for the name. The purple-haired teen made a big show of rolling his eyes. But Jiro couldn't help but notice the faint upturn to his lips that wouldn't go away as they went on to come up with names for the faculty.

* * *

Todoroki glanced up from his books to the boy sitting on the common room couch across from him. Shinsou seemed totally engrossed in his school work, shuffling through the papers and making several notes as he did so.

He should be doing the same, but there had been a question buzzing around in his mind since the day the boy had joined class 1A. It literally would not leave him alone. He glanced around, none of the others were in the common area. If he wanted to ask, he was unlikely to receive a more perfect chance. But… it was a ridiculous question, knowing the answer would accomplish nothing. Todoroki shook his head, forcefully putting the thought out of his mind.

Shinsou's pencil lead broke and he frowned. Sighing, he put down the pencil and raised his eyes, accidentally catching Todoroki staring at him.

"Do you resent me for the fact that I have two powerful quirks?" Todoroki blurted before he could stop himself.

The words filled the suddenly silent space between them as Shinsou paused. He blinked his listless eyes owlishly several times as Todoroki desperately wished he could turn back the clock a few seconds and gave serious consideration to just creating an ice wall between them and running for it.

"Do you really want to know?" Shinsou asked at length.

Well… he _did._ Todoroki nodded.

Shinsou looked up at the ceiling, the corners of his mouth taking a downward turn as he thought it over. "I envy you." He said at last. "Son of one of the world's most powerful heroes, with a double helping of quirks to match. Yes," he nodded. "I envy you. The world will open its doors to you in ways it never will for me. I believe I resent that fact more than I do you personally. Although if you had asked me that question a year ago, my answer would have been much simpler."

"And that would have been?"

"I would have said I hated you." Shinsou answered simply, letting his gaze fall back down to meet Todoroki's. He raised an eyebrow. "Is that the answer you were looking for?"

"I'm… not sure," Todoroki admitted.

Shinsou was quiet for a moment. "There's lots of rumors about how you got that scar. Is it true Endeavor gave it to you?" Todoroki's gut tightened at the question. He regretted having started this conversation now more than ever, but Shinsou had answered his question…

"He didn't." He said at last. "My mother did. It wasn't her fault," he added quickly. "Endeavor pushed her to the point of a nervous breakdown and she attacked me because she thought I looked like him."

"Oh." The purple-haired boy blinked at that, his neutral expression tightening further into a frown. "Do you hate him for it?"

"If you had asked me that a year ago, my answer would have been simple." Todoroki answered, the corner of his mouth twitching into a momentary smirk. "Now, I simply don't have the time or energy to waste on such things."

"Then you understand how I feel." Shinsou said. "Or, at least…" he shrugged reluctantly. "How I _want_ to feel."

"But then you see someone with a flashy quirk or you summon a wall of fire and the feelings come rushing back and you know you aren't completely over it."

The other boy nodded and they stared at each other awkwardly as the conversation died, shriveled up, and crumpled into dust.

"I think…" Shinsou said, gathering his papers up. "That I'm going to go work on my homework in my room, if you don't mind."

Todoroki's shoulders sagged in relief. "I think I'll do the same." He answered, hurriedly gathering his books up. They stared at each other for a moment longer, then turned and went their separate ways.

Well... at least he had an answer to his question. Now he could devote his attention to thoroughly avoiding Shinsou in every way for the next month or so.

* * *

Midnight tutted, scratching red lines across the paper in front of her.

"Oh Bakugo." She sighed longingly. "if only you put the same effort into your academics that you do into hitting people." There was a knock on her door and she looked up. "Come in."

Aizawa stepped in. He looked annoyed, or at least more so than usual. Perhaps even a bit awkward. It caught her attention immediately and she put down her pen and papers to give him her full attention. "Hey Aizawa. Can I help you with something?"

"I was wondering if you could answer a question for me." Aizawa said.

She arched an eyebrow. "I guess?"

"Do you know what it means when somebody ships two people?"

Midnight opened her mouth to respond and paused, staring at him blankly as the words replayed in her head to make sure she'd heard correctly. He was staring at her in that completely serious way of his, but still... "Excuse me?"

"When someone says they ship somebody else," he repeated, looking annoyed. "What does that mean?"

Okay, so she had heard correctly. She glanced suspiciously at the papers on her desk. She'd been grading them for the past couple hours, had she just fallen asleep and this was some kind of weird dream? "…Why are you asking?"

"Shinsou told me that he ships Emi and me, but he refused to explain what he meant."

Midnight stared at him for a moment, searching for any sign that the man was joking and finding none. A wide grin crept across her face. On further review, she dearly hoped this wasn't a dream. This was too fantastic a thing to be happening for it to not be real.

"It means," she said slowly. "That he supports your relationship and wants to know when you're going to get married."

Aizawa stared at her for a moment, his eye twitching. "That's what I thought it meant," he sighed. "I just hoped I was wrong." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Emi's taken a liking to him, and I do _not_ need him egging her on."

"… Then I suppose this would be a bad time to mention that I ship Dry Humor too?"

Eraser glared at her for a moment, then said. "He also asked me if you were a cougar."

Midnight's jaw dropped. "W-what kind of a question is that to ask about a lady?"

"Well, personally, considering that you're an adult and that all of our students are underage, I'd say it's a pretty fair one."

Midnight crossed her arms. "And what did you tell him?" the man didn't answer and she narrowed her eyes with just a hint of menace. "Aizawa?"

"I… changed the subject."

" _Aizawa!"_ she growled. "So, I like seeing youthful beginners on the path of life struggle and improve themselves, I'm a teacher. What's wrong with that?"

"Probably the way you drool a bit when you see two teenagers hitting each other."

Midnight glared. "Keep this up, and I'll tell Emi that you've confided in me all about how you like her back but just don't know how to tell her."

The man's eyes widened. "…You wouldn't."

Midnight smirked and spoke in a deeper, grumbly voice. "Oh Midnight, her smile's just _sooooo_ pretty and whenever I see her my chest gets all tight. I want to tell her how I really feel but I just get so nervous and clam up, that's why I'm so rude to her. She must think I _hate_ her. What shall I do?"

The binding cloth was hiding half his face, but she could see the horror flashing in his eyes. "I sound nothing like that."

Midnight smirked, friendly as a triangular fin breaking the surface of still waters. "Oh, I'll be _a lot_ subtler than that. I'll tell her that you asked me to find out what her favorite chocolate is. That I saw you reading a joke book for beginners." Midnight's eyes narrowed like a snake about to strike. "That I saw you in a jewelry store, looking at engagement rings."

All the color had drained from the man's face and she half wondered if he was actually going to pass out. "…I've got papers to grade." He said, turning tail and fleeing as her cackles chased him down the hall.

Midnight leaned back, satisfied. _That_ would teach the man not to stick up for her about her totally innocent passions. She looked back to her papers, scanning some of the answers.

"Oh Aoyoma," she cooed, reaching once more for her red pen. "So close, and yet _so_ far!"

S&DS&DS&DS&D.

 **What happens next? I dunno. If anyone has suggestions about cool interactions or scenes, feel free to suggest them. You never know what'll catch my interest and inspire me.**

 **Till next time!**


	7. The Prettiest Princess

**Yet more friends! Will it ever end?**

 **No. Because friendship never ends. Not even at the hands of Bakugo's potty mouth, which makes an appearence**

 **Chapter seven: The Prettiest Princess**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"Erm… excuse me?"

The voice was very soft, barely audible, really. If they weren't in the library, he wouldn't have heard it. Shinsou turned, looking at the student behind him. Tall, broad-shouldered, with light brown skin and a rocklike head that seemed to have some kind of fins jutting out on the side. He knew this was one of his classmates, and… that was honestly about it. He couldn't even begin to remember what the guys quirk was, let alone his name.

"Yes?"

"Er, I'm Koda." The boy said, looking nervous. "We've, never spoken." That soft, childlike voice sounded really weird coming out of that hulking frame and inhuman frame.

"I know that." Shinsou answered. "What do you want?"

"I, um, wanted to ask you a question… about your cat."

That was an immediate red flag. "About Set?" he answered cautiously. "Why? What has he done now?"

"Well… I found him in my room."

Shinsou leaned back, gently bracing himself for the inevitable. "What did he destroy?"

"N-nothing!" Koda answered, throwing up his hands and waving them to ward off the statement. "It's nothing like that. He just sort of sat there, staring at me. He didn't even attack Mr. Bun."

"…Mr. Bun?"

"My bunny."

Oh right, Ochaco had something about someone owning a pet rabbit. This must be that guy.

"Well," Shinsou said slowly, trying to wrap his head around this mystery. Provided they weren't offering him belly rubs or food, you were generally beneath Set's notice. "Do you carry cat treats around with you?"

"N-no."

"And you're certain nothing was clawed to death?"

"Y-yes."

Shinsou furrowed his brow. "Then what was the issue? If you don't want him in your room, then sorry, but there's not a lot I can do about that. Set goes where he likes. I recommend acting completely uninteresting until he gets bored and, above all, do _not_ pet him. He considers that declaring yourself his property."

"Um, thanks for the advice." Koda answered, looking a bit overwhelmed. "But that's not it. I wanted to ask you about Set because there's something strange about him. I can't control him, I mean."

Shinsou stared, not quite certain he understood "He's a cat." He said slowly.

"I mean with my quirk." Koda said hurriedly. "I can tell animals what to do and they do it. I tried to tell Set to please go away or tell me what he wanted, but he just kept staring at me."

So… Koda was like him, except with animals. Shinsou paused for a few moments while he thought about the implications. The oversized boy probably never got flak for having a villainous quirk, not even with his inhuman looks. Then again, it was probably of even more limited use than his own, especially in cities where the closest animals tended to be a flock of pigeons.

"How did you pass the entrance exam?" Shinsou asked. "Did you bring an elephant with you or something?"

"Um…no." Koda blinked. "I... uh..."

"Hey, Mind Bastard!" Both of them winced at the sudden shout. Bakugo was stomping towards them, looking particularly incensed.

"You know this is a library, right?" Shinsou asked, once the boy had reached them. "Do you want to bring the librarian down on us?"

Bakugo opened his mouth to yell, but paused, and glanced over his shoulder. He had good reason to look nervous, the librarian was a woman about three feet tall, with a tolerance for yelling of about three micrometers.

She also had a quirk that made you unable to make any noise for as long as she wanted. According to Ochaco, Bakugo had once ticked her off and hadn't been able to speak for days—he'd had to get Midoriya to translate for him, as the green-haired boy had seemed to be the only one who'd been able to understand his angry hand gestures.

"Listen you, purpled-headed extra," Bakugo hissed in, Shinsou couldn't help but note, a much softer voice. "I just found five hair balls and a half a dead mouse on my pillow. I know your stupid fleabag is the one who did it." he cracked his knuckles. "Now tell me where the furball is so I can skin it, unless you want to volunteer yourself in his place?"

…It seemed like Set was making all kinds of friends today. Good for him. Shinsou blinked pensively up at the guy who was practically vibrating with barely controlled rage. "You're a dog person, aren't you?" he asked.

Bakugo blinked, his rage momentarily thrown off track. "The fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you?"

"Yeah, dogs are fan-fucking-tastic. Cats are evil, vindictive little bastards."

"Set certainly is." Shinsou nodded. "That's probably why he violated your pillow. He's always been able to spot someone who doesn't like cats."

"So, you admit it was him!" Bakugo hissed, his anger regaining its footing. "Where is the little shit?"

"How would I know?" Shinsou asked. "If you feel that strongly about it, I recommend staking out your room. He'll probably return to the scene of the crime for another strike."

"Aren't you worried about your cat?" Koda asked, staring at him incredulously—maybe even a little offended—as Bakugo stalked off muttering dire threats under his breath. "Bakugo looked pretty mad."

"Not really," Shinsou shrugged. "Set's even better at avoiding trouble than he is at causing it. Sweaty McBoomboom's never gonna find him." He shook his head. "Anyway, where were we? Something about your quirk…" Shinsou frowned, an idle thought popping into his head.

"If we both tried to use our quirks on Principal Nezu, do you think either of them would work?"

* * *

These random sparring matches were just really not doing it for him. He knew he was behind a lot of the other students in terms of combat ability and experience.

He did _not_ need to spar with Bakugo to drive the point home. Especially when walking war-head hadn't been able to catch Set and decided to take it out on him instead.

But that had been yesterday, today had brought its own special bundle of fun.

Shinsou crouched behind the cubicle wall, trying not to even breath lest it be heard. Somewhere around here he knew Tokoyami was on searching for him.

Or, more accurately, Tokoyami was strolling around letting Dark Shadow do the hunting, which was a far less pleasant thought.

The only reason he'd been able to elude them in the first place was because he'd managed to make Todoroki freeze the bird boy's legs to the ground and slipped away into this warehouse while Dark Shadow had been occupied freeing his master. But unless Bakugo or maybe Aoyoma felt like wandering by, he was probably on his own from here on out—oh well, so what else was new?

He took a deep breath, running through what he knew about the bird boy and his pet shadow. Dark Shadow was weak to light, but apart from that he was faster, stronger, and sturdier than Shinsou was, so that was great. Tokoyami himself was probably about on par with him… except that the boy could have Dark Shadow surround him like a cloak and buff all his stats whenever he wanted, so that was also terrific.

Right, so direct confrontation was out—what a shocker—what else did he have?

"I believe I saw our prey slip into this building. Search for him, Dark Shadow."

Not a lot of time, apparently—and he was pretty sure the guy was using the word prey out of spite. Shinsou pressed himself against the wall. Straining his ears for any sound while being keenly aware of the fact that Dark Shadow didn't have to make any noises when he moved and just how much fun that fact added to the situation. His mind kicked into overdrive as he ran through his options. He'd seen a big floodlight near the entrance, maybe he could use that to—

"Smash the light." There was a crunch of glass and plastic.

Right. Everyone probably tried that on bird boy, he probably kept a sharp eye out for it… What were the chances Tokoyami would talk if he spoke in Aizawa's voice or something? Not likely. The bird boy seemed pretty intense, he probably would respond to any noise until Shinsou was thoroughly pinned where he could see.

Except for giving Dark Shadow an order…

Shinsou paused. Would that work? Did Tokoyami actually have to talk to get Dark Shadow to do what he wanted? Or was he just being dramatic? But… Shinsou scoffed silently at his doubts, like he had a better option. He reached for the dials on his speaker.

Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck rose and he looked up to see a pair of yellow lamplight eyes staring triumphantly at him.

"Found yaaaaa." Dark Shadow crooned.

The binding cloth whipped out, wrapping around those yellow eyes and blinding him for just a moment. Shinsou didn't waste it throwing the rest of it like a net to further entangle the dark creature, then darting out from behind the cubicle and spotting Tokoyami standing all the way across the warehouse, with his arms crossed.

The boy tilted his head to the side as if to say: well, now what?

Shinsou made a break for him. He saw the tendrils of Dark Shadow undulate, no doubt about to grab him and slam him face first into the ground.

"Dark Shadow!" He yelled in Tokoyami's voice. "Make me the prettiest princess!"

He saw Tokoyami's beak open, then pause as his brow furrowed.

"Huh?"

Shinsou felt his chest clench as his quirk activated. He slowed to a stop, grinning, but paused. Tokoyami was staring at something over his shoulder, his pupils were still red and completely focused. Shinsou half turned and saw Dark Shadow hanging in the air a few feet behind him, arms outstretched.

With eyes that were solid white.

Shinsou blinked, turned back to Tokoyami who met his gaze with equal befuddlement. "Not what I was going for," Shinsou admitted. "But I'll take it?" He shrugged and pointed at Tokoyami. "Restrain him."

Tokoyami's eyes went wide and he threw his hands up. "Dark Shadow, no—" his words cut off as coils of writhing shadow looped around his mouth. Dark shadow flew in circles around the guy, like a dog on a long leash, its body entangled Tokoyami until only his eyes were visible.

Tokoyami stared at Shinsou for a moment, teetering for a moment, then overbalancing and falling to the ground with a thump.

Shinsou approached the downed boy cautiously, waiting for Dark Shadow to uncoil, shout 'surprise!', and deck him.

But it didn't happen.

He guessed… this meant he won? Weird. He hadn't even picked up a new set of bruises yet. He strolled over to the bound boy, Tokoyami was glaring at him furiously. But there didn't seem to be anything he could do.

"Normally, I'd let you go so we could start again." Shinsou said, scratching the back of his head with a tired sigh. "But I just… don't feel like letting Dark Shadow beat me up, so…" He shrugged at his trapped classmate. "Sorry."

Tokoyami grunted, and Shinsou gestured for Dark Shadow to uncover his mouth.

"I cannot escape." Tokoyami said tersely. "I yield. Now release me."

"Sure."

Dark Shadow went rigid as the mind control vanished. His head shaking back and forth like a dog. The creature's coils loosened and Tokoyami slipped free. The boy was glaring at him, the downturn of his beak making him look far too much like a bird of prey staring at a field mouse.

Shinsou took a step back, wondering if maybe he should have put a bit more distance between them before letting the guy go—nothing huge, just a city block or something. Tokoyami must have seen the worry on his face because he paused, and his expression softened—at least, Shinsou thought it did, it was hard to tell because of the beak.

Tokoyami closed his eyes, tilted his head back and let out several deep breaths. When he finally opened his eyes and met Shinsou's gaze, he looked much calmer.

"Forgive me." Tokoyami said. "I find defeat frustrating."

"I can relate." Shinsou said, still keeping an eye on Dark Shadow. "I got lucky."

"No." Tokoyami shook his head. "There is no need for such statements. Your quirk overpowered mine, that is all there is to it. It is no different than the way I defeated Yaozorozu in the Sports festival." Tokoyami sighed. "I was careless. I suspected that should you control one of us, the other would remain free. That is why I was giving Dark Shadow verbal commands. I assumed you would take the bait and try to control me, giving away your position and leaving Dark Shadow free to catch you and relinquish me from your control."

Oh… well, he'd fallen for that one hook, line, and sinker. If Tokoyami had responded to him, that's probably exactly what would have happened.

"It did not even occur to me that Dark Shadow would be the one to succumb." Tokoyami shook his head, "The lesson here for me is twofold: You can never be certain how quirks are going to match up against each other and that I must be mindful of quirks such as yours. You are far from the only person in the world with a quirk that assaults the mind, While I have no more resistance to such quirks than anyone else, I have never given any thought to what might happen should Dark Shadow fall under such an influence." Tokoyami scowled, his beak turning even more sharply downward. "I was defenseless. Such carelessness…"

"Well, there are ways around it." Shinsou said, feeling an odd urge to be helpful.

"Such as?" Tokoyami snapped. "I understand your control can be broken by inducing pain. But Dark Shadow does not experience such things as you or I do. My voice could not reach him. There was _nothing_ I could do."

Shinsou blinked. So… this is what that looked like from the outside. It was kind of surreal to see someone with a quirk as strong as the bird boy's feeling so helpless. What was he supposed to say? Sorry I have hax powers?

"It's not so much pain, as it is applying a shock, something that startles the mind," he said. "It's just the easiest way to do that is hitting them. As for Dark Shadow, what about light?" He asked. "Doesn't that weaken him?"

"A flashlight would _hardly_ be enough to phase Dark Shadow."

"What about a flashbang? Or a flare gun?"

"That," Tokoyomi snapped, then paused. "That… might work." He admitted, looking at Dark Shadow thoughtfully. "Dark Shadow is connected to me at all times, if I were to set off a small flashbang under my robe," he twitched aside the cloak, showing where the shadowy creature was connected to his stomach. "it would break him apart at the source, forcing him to reform from scratch."

"That sounds like something that would work."

Tokoyami looked at him. "Would you be willing to lend your assistance to me in testing this? I _must_ cover this weakness as soon as possible."

"Depends. If I help and it works, do you promise not to beat me up with Dark Shadow?"

Tokoyami gave him a sidelong look. "Swear to me that you will never again utter the phrase 'prettiest princess' in my voice, and you have my word."

"That's fair."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **A short chapter, because I'm going through a bit of a writer's block and wasn't really** _ **feeling**_ **it. Ah well, maybe next time.**

 **I had the idea of him controlling Dark Shadow somewhere around chapter two, wanted to see what that was like. Tokoyami's overly dramatic speech is fun to write, I think I got it without being too dramatic.**


	8. Flexin' the ole Friendship Muscles

**Back again. I feel better about this chapter than I did about the last one, probably because I let the ideas come to me naturally rather than trying to force it.**

 **Only one new friend this chapter, but it's a big friend. One might even say they are an…**

 **Almighty friend.**

 **Nyeh heh heh.**

 **Chapter 8: Flexing the ole Friendship Muscles**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Mina blinked, rubbed her eyes to make sure they were clear and checked again. Yep, she appeared to be seeing correctly. Shinsou was sitting in the common room, all out in the open without someone to force him to be there, playing cards with a little girl white-haired girl who couldn't be more than five. That cat of his was curled up in the girl's lap, purring like a furry roomba.

"Go Fish," the girl said happily.

"Are you sure?" Shinsou asked skeptically. "How can you possibly not have any fives?"

"I just don't."

Shinsou shrugged and picked up a card. "Oh, there it is." He nodded and set down four cards on the table. "Your turn." He looked up and saw Mina. "Ashido." He nodded, before turning his eyes back to his cards.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" She grinned. "Ooh! Is she your little sister?" The little girl whirled around at her voice, nearly throwing the cat from her lap and staring with wide eyes, looking like a baby deer caught in headlights.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "She's not my sister. We look absolutely nothing alike." He said blandly. "Eri, this is Mina. Mina, Eri."

"Oh, so _you're_ Eri!" Mina said, crouching down in front of the girl, who leaned back slightly, unsure what to make of the sudden attention. Mina had heard about this girl from Kirishima but hadn't actually seen her before now. She was probably supposed to be classified information or something, but it wasn't like Rocky Road could keep a secret, not from his friends, and _especially_ not when Detective Mina was on the case! She held out a hand. "Nice to meet ya!"

Eri looked at the hand, then at Mina's face, then back to Shinsou.

"Go ahead," he sighed, waving his card at her. "Despite how she looks, she doesn't actually bite."

"Despite how she looks?" She echoed, snorting. "Wow, rude much?"

"So is barging into people's rooms and trying to steal their cat."

"…I blame Set for looking so fluffy, he's practically asking to be cuddled."

"Try giving him a bath some time, see how fluffy he really is."

"…Hello." Eri said quietly, tentatively reaching out and shaking the hand. "Your skin is a pretty color."

"Oh." Mina's grin returned, "Why thank you."

"It's her only redeeming feature." Shinsou agreed. "Still your turn, by the way." Mina shot him a flat look her lips pursed. He _was_ in a snarky mood today. Well, if that's the way he wanted to play it, he wouldn't find Mina Ashido unwilling to throw down.

"And, _what,_ exactly is that supposed to mean?" She asked, standing up and leaning over him. She waited for a just a moment before trading her glare for a smirk. "You think I look pretty?"

"I think you look pink." He answered blandly. But she'd seen him twitch—which meant she'd scored a point.

"Got any threes?" Eri asked. Shinsou sighed and handed over his last card. Mina sat down at the table and examined the cards. There were a lot more piles in front of Eri than in front of Shinsou.

"Man, you're kinda losin' pretty hard, aren't you?"

Shinsou nodded, pointedly not looking at her. "Don't let her looks fool you, Eri is a card shark."

"Is that so?" Mina answered. "In that case, deal me in for the next round."

* * *

"Got any nines, Mina?"

Mina groaned, handing over the pair of cards she'd just taken from Shinsou. He hadn't been kidding! Eri was the most vicious Go Fish player she'd ever seen. The girl had at least nine neat stacks of cards on the table in front of her and she didn't even have one!

The girl just sat there, cute as a button and then WHAM! She'd clean you out for everything you had. The worst part was that she just looked so excited to be winning, you couldn't even be mad at her.

"Man, you're kinda losin' pretty hard, aren't you?" Shinsou asked mildly.

"Oh, like you're doing any better!" She snapped.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I got all the jacks, remember?"

"Only because you took the last one from me!"

"That is literally how you play Go Fish."

"I think I won." Eri said brightly, stroking Set with one hand and laying her cards on the table.

"I am genuinely shocked." Shinsou answered, looking about as shocked as a rubber glove.

"You know what?" Mina huffed, gathering up the cards. "Let's play a different game."

* * *

"Djinn." Eri said, laying down three queens and four kings.

Mina's head hit the table and she groaned.

"Let's see…" Shinsou said mildly, picking up a pencil and putting another mark on a notebook he'd pulled out half an hour ago. "Now she's beaten us at Go Fish, Old Maid, War, Spite'n'Malice, and now Djinn Rummy. I think that's about enough for me." He put down his cards and stood. "I think I'm going to go make myself some food, you want anything, Eri?"

"Can I have a juice?"

"Sure."

"You cook?" Mina asked, the prospect of food drawing her away from her wallowing in defeat.

"I can just about make a sandwich." He answered.

"Can I have a grilled cheese?" Eri asked.

"i'll see what I can do."

"Ooh, can you make me one too?" Mina asked.

"No."

"What? Why not?" She demanded. "If you're already making one it'll take you, like, twenty extra seconds to make another one."

"True," he nodded, glancing over his shoulder at her with those bored looks of his. "But I'm not babysitting you, am I?" She stuck out her tongue at him. "Nice." He turned and walked off, Eri trailing behind him. Mina pouted for a moment, then got up to follow. The talk of food had set her own belly rumbling.

She followed them to the dorm's kitchenette, it was equipped with a fridge and stove, but it was more meant for storing and reheating leftovers than actual cooking. With any luck, Sato would have left some cake in there that she could snag before anyone else did. He was always leaving the fruits of his labor in there. Mina licked her lips in anticipation. Now _there_ was a guy who knew which end of the wooden spoon went in the batter.

"So why is Eri with you?" She asked as Shinsou pulled some bread and cheese out of the fridge. "Isn't Eraserhead supposed to be with her, like, at all times? Because of her quirk of doom?" Kirishima had been a little bit vague on what the quirk actually was, but she'd seen on the news that there'd been quite a lot of collateral damage, which apparently the girl had been involved in somehow.

"It isn't a 'quirk of doom'" he answered, handing the girl a juice box—since when did they have those? —and picking up a knife to slice the cheese. "It's just a little troublesome. Aizawa said he had something he needed to do today and told me to watch her, he mumbled something about," he put on a grumbly tone, "crucial training on how to interact with young civilians in a professional manner."

"So, babysitting?" Mina grinned, rooting through the fridge. Aha! There was a box with Sato's name on it. She snatched the box and opened it.

Aww _yiss_! Cinnamon buns. Someone was winning at life today and that someone was her.

"Yes." He nodded. "Her quirk hasn't flared up in a while, but if it does, my quirk can force her to calm it down almost as good as his can. It's not like it takes away her ability to talk." He shrugged, placing the bread in a pan. "So, babysitting."

"I'm sorry." Eri said in a small voice, clutching her juice box and staring at the floor "I-I don't want to be a problem." Mina winced just as she sunk her teeth into one of the sugary pastries. Maybe 'quirk of doom' had been a bit…Tactless.

"You're not," Shinsou assured her. "I'm honestly more annoyed that I lost to you at Go Fish six times in a row. Like, seriously, it's not a hard game. One person should not be that lucky."

"Maybe I could go easy on you next time?" The girl suggested.

"Thanks." He answered with all the dignity of a person being offered pity by a five-year old.

"Hey, maybe we should teach her poker!" Mina said. "Take her to a casino for twenty minutes and we'd be rich!"

"Yeah, we aren't doing that," Shinsou answered. "Aizawa would kill us."

"I don't want Mr. Aizawa to kill you!" Eri protested, looking up in alarm.

"Thanks, Eri," he answered, nodding seriously. "I feel the same way."

"He's such a dad." Mina snorted, clasping her hands together. "Doesn't want us leading his precious daughter on the road to sin." She grinned. "Luckily Eri has big brother Shinsou to keep her safe. From the seductive wiles of the Ashido!" She waggled her fingers at Eri and stuck out her tongue, making the girl giggle.

"Once again, she's not my sister."

"You are literally making her a grill cheese right now."

"You have a very low bar for what makes people related, don't you?"

"You say that, but don't think I don't see the truth!" She pointed a finger at him. "Aizawa has adopted both you and Eri. Taken you off the streets and wrapped you in the warm embrace of his tacky sleeping bag."

"I have a father." Shinsou answered, flipping the bread over in the pan. "I tolerate him just fine."

"A likely story!"

"Ask Ochaco, she's met him."

"She's in on the conspiracy!"

"Then ask Midoriya, he was there too."

"Midoriya—" Mina paused. "Okay, I admit I can't see him being in on a conspiracy. Dude probably can't keep a secret to save his life."

"Probably not. Why don't you go interrogate him right now?"

"And leave you in peace? Pass."

She couldn't see his face, but she could practically _feel_ him rolling his eyes. He didn't say anything else as he finished up the grilled cheese and put it on a plate for Eri, then he grabbed some more bread and started making another.

"Oh, are you making me one after all?"

"No. This one is mine. There's cheese and bread right here and you're a strong independent young woman."

"I mean, I totes am. But maybe I want a big strong man in my life who will make me sandwiches."

"I wish you good luck in finding him, you'd better go and get on that before you starve."

"Nah, I got these awesome buns." She answered, holding up the bag. "Which you can't have any of, but Eri can. If she wants." She turned and offered the girl a treat. "They're really good, way better than a boring old grilled cheese."

"Um…" Eri paused, her mouth half full as she stared at the offered bun.

"You know, Mina," Shinsou said, glancing over his shoulder. "I can't help but notice that's not your name on the bag. Don't take one, Eri, because stealing is wrong."

"Pfft. Sato knows if he puts something he baked in a public space, he'll never see it again. He's Class 1A's sugar daddy!"

Shinsou snorted. "Gross."

"What's a sugar daddy?" Eri asked, making them both freeze.

"Mina will tell you." Shinsou said immediately, before she could get a word in. She glared at him, but he made a point of being totally absorbed in transferring his newly finished grilled cheese to a plate. Plus Eri's eyes were already on her so it was too late to pass the buck back to him.

"I think…" She said slowly. "That you should ask Aizawa. He'll be able to explain it better."

"Um…" The girl blinked owlishly. "Okay?"

"You know," Shinsou said, eyeing Mina thoughtfully. "I think you might actually be evil."

"Mwahaha!" Mina laughed. "The Ashido strikes again." He grunted noncommittally before sinking his teeth into his sandwich. Everyone fell silent, too busy stuffing their faces to keep up the snark.

"Hey Shinsou?" Mina said, after they finished off the last bun.

"Yeah?"

"Since we don't have classes tomorrow, Kirishima, Kaminari, and I were gonna go down to the park downtown. There's a festival thing going on."

"What kind of festival?"

"Dunno, but there's gonna be games and food and stuff. Want to come with us?"

He eyed her suspiciously. "Are you giving me a choice?"

"Depends. If I do, will you make the correct choice?"

The boy looked like he was about to refuse, but hesitated. Then he shrugged wearily. "Sure, why not?"

Mina grinned. "Good boy! We'll have you making friendship bracelets before the week is out!"

"On second thought…"

"Nope, too late." Mina said happily. "Your choice privileges are rescinded! If you aren't in the common room tomorrow morning, i'll melt your door and drag you out! Kicking and screaming all the way!"

He stared at her. "Do you know?' he said blandly. "I can actually picture you doing that?"

"No mere door can resist the power of friendship!"

"…Whatever."

Mina smiled, despite his grumbles he didn't actually look too displeased. Tomorrow was gonna be _so_ much fun!

* * *

Toshinori spied the mop of violet hair strolling down the path ahead of him and increased his pace. He'd been meaning to have a one-on-on chat with the new student but hadn't had the chance yet. He'd been going around to all the students and doing that recently. Completely of his own volition and not just because Aizawa had told him to his face that his favoritism for Midoriya was completely obvious and unprofessional.

…Okay, the man was right. He almost always was. But that didn't change the validity of the fact that he should put a lot more effort into this teaching thing; after all, it wasn't like he could do other hero work anymore, could he?

"Hello there, young Shinsou."

The boy paused mid-step, probably not having expected to meet anyone on his walk around the school grounds. He looked around as Toshinori approached, the boy's brows furrowed, then his eyes went wide as recognition dawned.

"All Might." The boy blurted, staring at him like he'd popped out of the ground, "what are you doing here?" Then the boy seemed to shrink on himself. Toshinori laughed good-naturedly. If he'd had a nickel for every person who'd gotten tongue-tied in his presence… It didn't happen as much now that his secret was out, but honestly, he'd kind of missed it.

"Getting my daily exercise in, my boy." He grinned wide to show he took no offense. "Can't let my fine physique waste away into a pile of bones, can I?" He flexed one skeletal arm, which made the boy snort despite himself.

"I guess not." Shinsou answered uncertainly, like a baby bird eyeing the ledge it's parent was telling it to jump off.

"Would you mind if I joined you on your walk?" Toshinori asked. "Of course, I'd understand if you wish to be alone."

Shinsou shook his head rapidly. "No, I…" He swallowed and started over. "I'd be honored, All Might sir."

"Please, just call me Toshinori. All Might hardly fits much anymore, does it?"

"You'll always be All Might." Shinsou protested.

"Perhaps." Toshinori agreed easily. "But that doesn't mean the name still fits."

The boy looked like he wanted to contest the point, but his eyes told Toshinori that he didn't totally disagree. "If you want, you can just call me sir, my boy." Shinsou nodded slowly, and Toshinori fell in step beside him as they made their way down the path. The boy wasn't moving with that comfortable laziness of his anymore, moving far more ridgidly. But Toshinori was used to that kind. Not to toot his own horn, so to speak, but people had idolized All Might, and tended to be a little star struck.

Of course, Shinsou's nervousness might be a bit more personal than that.

Midoriya had told him how he used to watch videos of All Might saving people, and knew he wanted to be a hero more than anything else. Toshinori couldn't help but wonder if the young man beside him—not quirkless, but with one that nobody considered heroic—had done the same.

"So, how are you finding the hero course?" Toshinori asked, cringing behind his smile at just how blatant the attempt at small talk was. "Is it everything you hoped it would be?"

"It's difficult." Shinsou admitted after a few moments. "But I'm managing."

"I'd say you are." Toshinori nodded. It was hard for him to imagine what it might be like to fight someone like Bakugo without a quirk that made you relatively explosion-proof, but the boy hadn't let that stop him from trying. "it's quite an impressive thing you've done, clawing your way into the course."

"I owe it all to Professor Aizawa." Shinsou answered, somewhat dismissively. "It's only because of him that I made it."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, my boy." Toshinori grinned. "Eraser only gave you the chance, you're the one who proved you had the drive to make the cut."

"I suppose…" The boy shrugged, his body relaxing somewhat.

Toshinori scratched his cheek, not quite sure what to say next. Those teaching books had said it was important to establish a connection with one's students. Something about making them not want to let you down so they'd put in the effort to achieve. But almost everyone in the hero course already had the drive, so Toshinori wasn't really sure where that left him. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that you're welcome to talk to me as well. I'm sure there's plenty I can teach you, even if, you know, I'm not in the hero game anymore."

Shinsou looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Is there anything you'll say that can actually be relevant to me?" He asked plainly.

Toshinori frowned. "What do you mean?"

Shinsou looked sheepish, "Uh, I'm sorry, sir," Drat, the boy was already closing up again. "I mean no disrespect, but your quirk and mine are about as far apart as you can get." Toshinori could hear just a hint of bitterness words, like an unripe berry in a bunch of juicy grapes.

Toshinori frowned. Well… He wasn't exactly wrong, was he?

"I suppose that's true." He admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I could teach you all about how to best jump over a skyscraper to minimize your chances of faceplanting the pavement on the far side, but what good would that do?"

"That was an oddly specific example," Shinsou observed, raising an eyebrow at him. "Have you done that?"

"… I don't think that's important." Toshinori responded hurriedly—there was no need to get into the perfect, broad-smiled faceprints that had been left in various sidewalks in his early days, most of them weren't there anymore, but he knew for a fact that at least one of the imprints still existed in a quiet back alley. "What _is_ important is that you're taking what I said too literally. I think there's a certain similarity in what i've done in the past and what you intend to do as a hero."

Shinsou tilted his head to the side, looking intrigued. "What do you mean?"

 _Um… Good question, what DID he mean?_ Toshinori looked up at the clouds overhead, smiling lazily as he desperately scrambled for something helpful to say. How did Aizawa make this teaching thing look easy? Just pulling those insightful statements and observations out of thin air like that…

"Well…" He said slowly. Come on, _come on brain. Think of something!_ "Overwhelming power."

"…What?"

 _Brain. C'mon. Give me a little more than that._

"Think about my quirk," Toshinori said, mentally putting his brain through the ringer to get the words out. "Think about the things I could do with it."

"Like jump over skyscrapers?"

"Yes, like jump over skyscrapers." Toshinori said, somewhat annoyed. Either this was the standard cheekiness of teenagers that Midoriya had seemed to avoid or Aizawa was really rubbing off on this boy. "What I meant was that think about just how powerful I was. Now imagine you're a villain who can, I don't know, turn things different colors, and you've been cornered by someone like me. How would you feel?"

"Screwed?"

"… I was more going for helpless. So, I'm going to pretend that's what you said."

"Okay."

"Now imagine you're a villain who can toss cars around, break through walls, and is bulletproof. You're unstoppable, you've beaten down countless heroes who've tried to stand in your way. Then some young hero half your size approaches you and asks you if you wish to surrender, you laugh in his face, start to tell him all the things you're going to do to him, and the next thing you know is you're in a prison cell. You're shown videos of what happened, of you peacefully and quietly walking into the police station and laying down on the ground when asked and holding up your arms so they can slap enough handcuffs on you to restrain an elephant. How do you feel?"

"I want to say pissed. But I imagine you're going for helpless again?"

"I am." Toshinori nodded. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"…Kind of?" Shinsou squinted, then shook his head. "Okay, no. Not really. You're trying to say my quirk can make people feel helpless like yours did. I get that, but I'm not really sure where you're going with this, sir."

"People fear power. I'm sure you I don't have to explain that to you?" The boy twitched, his face pinching slightly. No doubt, he was remembering quiet half-whispers in the hall as he passed, or nervous glances shot his way when they thought he wasn't looking. "I can see that I don't. Believe me my boy, I understand." He raised a skeletal hand and clenched it into a fist. "To become the symbol of peace, I had to put the fear of these hands into the souls of villains everywhere."

"I mean, that's not a bad thing." Shinsou said. "They were criminals."

"True," Toshinori nodded. "Many of them chose to be so. But there were plenty who turned to villainy because they felt they had no other choice." He shrugged. "How hard do you punish a starving man for stealing a loaf of bread from one who has twenty?"

Shinsou blinked at him, still looking uncertain as to where this was going. Toshinori smiled softly. "At the beginning I set a simple guideline for myself: is this person threatening to hurt others? If so, I took them down. It didn't take me long to bring the majority of the nutjobs who lash out at others for the fun of it to heel. But then I was left with the subtler criminals, or those stuck in a moral grey area like the starving man." Toshinori sighed. "I wasn't always allowed to discriminate or give a chance to those I feel deserved it."

The boy was still just staring at him silently, which was fair. He was probably getting just a touch too philosophical here, so Toshinori decided to reel it back in a bit to a more personal level.

"I know you feel guilty when you use your power to defeat someone." He said softly. Shinsou stiffened.

"And how would you know that?" He demanded, his shoulders hunched. Toshinori smiled.

"Because if you didn't feel bad about it, you wouldn't be so driven to use your power to be a hero." That set the boy back on his heels and Toshinori nodded. "It would have been easy for me to be a villain. Even easier than it would be for you." He raised his hands. "Who could have stopped me?"

Toshinori shook his head. "I had to be careful, my boy, _extremely_ careful. I had to watch myself because when you have power, it becomes all too easy to force it on others at the drop of a hat. I put many people in jail, some of which were victims themselves, whether it was from quirks they couldn't control or because someone else had forced their hand, but I still had to take them down. I had my own share of doubts, believe me."

The boy still looked skeptical, so Toshinori put a hand on his shoulder and smiled even wider, desperately hoping it didn't come out as demented from his skeletal looks.

"The fact that you feel guilty is _good,_ young Shinsou. Because the moment you cease to care that you're forcing someone to bend to your will, is the moment you take the first step on the road to villainy, and that slope is steep and paved with ice slicker than you can possibly imagine."

"I… See." Shinsou nodded slowly, absorbing the words. A pair of troubled eyes looked up at Toshinori. "But… How can I be sure that I'll be good enough? What's to stop me from going bad?"

"A second opinion." Toshinori answered promptly. "Whenever I would feel guilty, or worried that I was going too far, I would turn to several dear companions and listen to what they had to say. I didn't always like what they had to say, mind you." Like the many, many times when Gran Torino had told him he was being a meathead. "But the important thing was that I listened. I recommend you surround yourself with people who care enough to tell you when you're going to far."

Shinsou stared at him for a long moment, then his expression turned flat. "Really?"

"…What?" Toshinori asked, genuinely confused. He'd thought had been excellent advice, the kind of wisdom you'd expect to get from a mountain top sage.

"All Might. You just told me that I should go make _friends._ "

"…Er… I mean. Yes, if you want to boil what I had said down to its essential parts."

The boy stared at him for a moment longer, then he snorted, a grin spreading across his face. "You really are All Might." He laughed. "You're still the most wholesome person ever, aren't you? Teaching the hero course must fit you like a glove."

"I think I shall take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one."

"So… Did you find what I had to say helpful? That maybe I know about more than just how to hit people?"

"Yeah." The boy's grin shrunk as he turned serious once more. "That… Actually, means a lot to me." He bowed slightly. "Thank you, sir. You've definitely given me something to think about."

As Toshinori watched the boy wander back to dorm, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. He thought he'd handled that pretty well. He just might be getting the hang of this teaching thing after all. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a pen and notebook.

"Let's see…" He muttered, putting a little check mark next to Shinsou's name. "Who's next… Ah." He frowned. "This one's going to be tricky. Well, nobody said a teacher would be easy, but… Maybe i'll leave Mineta for tomorrow."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Mina keeps appearing in my story. What can I say, I quite like her design and personality…**

 **Mina is best girl?**

 **Yes. Mina is Best Girl.**

 **But All Might is Best Guy.**


	9. Let slip the dogs of Friendship

**This chapter took longer because Kingdom Hearts 3 is a thing, and it is almost everything I had hoped for, so that's where my weekends went**

 **Anyway, Shinsou has now canonically made it into the Hero Course. Good for him.**

 **Chapter 8: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of Friendship.**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"Wow." Kaminari said. "Would you look at that?"

"I know." Sero nodded. "It's like seeing a unicorn."

Shinsou ignored them. They were all standing around outside the dorm, waiting for Ashido. For all her threats about melting his door if he didn't show up, she seemed to have slept in.

Sero held up his phone and took a picture.

Shinsou sighed. "Okay, If I confess that you have both successfully annoyed me, will you stop?"

"Sorry dude," Kaminari laughed. "But you're wearing casual clothes. We've never seen you outside of the UA uniform. It's a momentous occasion and we must treat it with the ceremony it deserves."

"It's a t-shirt and jeans." Shinsou sighed. "There are literally billions of people who have this exact outfit."

"You're missing the point, man." Kaminari said. "It's not about what you're wearing, It's the fact that you are going out on a social event with us and feel the need to go casually dressed."

"Yep." Sero nodded. "It's one of the first steps in the campaign of friendship." He held up a notebook with the words 'F is for Friendship' scrawled on the cover. He opened it up and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He opened the notebook and made a checkmark in it.

Shinsou stared. "…You know, I feel like you're all taking this a little bit too seriously."

"Friendship is a serious business." Kaminari answered. "We will melt the icy prison of loneliness around your heart or kill you trying."

"…Shouldn't that be: or die trying?"

"I know what I said."

Shinsou eyed the nearby path into the woods around the dorm. Sero would be hard to escape considering how good his quirk was for catching people, but maybe he could brainwash him into tying up Kaminari and make a break for it…

Sero's hand fell on his shoulder.

"I know it's scary, my man." He said sympathetically. "But you're better off letting it happen. Don't worry, we're professionals." He gestured to himself and Kaminari. "We laid Bakugo low with the force of our friendship." He said seriously. "No offense, but what chance do you stand by comparison?"

"Just accept it, dude." Kaminari added. "It's for the best. If you don't, we've all got Midoriya on speed dial, and we _will_ sic him on you."

"We'll do it, man." Sero added. "We're crazy."

"…I feel like you're all making me out to be way more antisocial than I actually am." Shinsou said weakly.

"You have nobody to blame but yourself." Sero said sagely. "You only get one first impression. You used it to tell us that you're not here to make friends."

"That's not the first time you all met me." Shinsou pointed out.

"True. But the actual first time you told us straight up that you were one of many out to get us. That's not exactly any better."

Shinsou thought for a moment, then nodded to show he was conceding the point. "Sorry about that."

"Nah, it's all good." Kaminari waved it off. "We forgive you."

"And _that's_ another key step." Sero said, holding up the notebook and making a show of adding another tick mark. "Now the healing can begin."

Shinsou rolled his eyes. They clearly weren't going to stop, so the only option was to change the subject. "Any idea when Ashido is going to join us?"

"Good question." Kaminari answered, looking back at the dorm. "We sent Kirishima to fetch her ages ago. Do you think he's alright? Mina's not exactly a morning person…"

"I'm sure he's fine." Sero smiled, "What's the worst she could do?"

"Melt his face off?" Kaminari supplied.

"…Fair point. Anyone want to go check on them?"

"And become another casualty? Pass. We can wait a few more minutes."

"She's already ten minutes late." Shinsou commented. "If she's not here in five more minutes, am I legally allowed to leave?"

Kaminari and Sero froze, their heads revolving slowly to stare at him. The notebook slid from Sero's fingers and thumped against the ground.

"…Did he just?" Kaminari whispered.

"I think he did," Sero answered, his voice full of awe. "He used a meme on us."

"That's… That's a top-tier social maneuver." Kaminari murmured, sniffling. "Shinsou, man. I am _so_ proud of you!"

Sero held up his phone and took another picture. "Mina is going to be devastated that she missed it."

"Devastated that I missed what?" Mina asked, stepping out of the door with Kirishima in her wake.

"Shinsou memed."

Mina spun to stare at him, her hand clutched over her mouth. "Is it true, Shinsy?" She whispered through her fingers. "Did you meme?"

He looked at her mildly. "You'll never know for sure."

"But that's…" She gaped. "That's not fair."

"Neither is making us wait after threatening my door with grievous harm if I did the same."

"He's got a point." Sero said, patting Mina on the shoulder. "Let it go, comrade Ashido. There will be other memes. There are _always_ other memes."

"I suppose," Mina sighed. "Sorry I was late, guys, I had trouble getting to sleep."

"S'all good." Kaminari nodded. "We going or what? I heard there's gonna be carnival games and I aim to win the biggest stuffed animal I can find."

They set off walking, Shinsou taking one last glance at the path into the trees.

If he wanted to make a break for it, this was probably his last chance.

But…Meh. He literally had nothing better to do today. He might as well spend some time having fun with some classmates.

* * *

Toshinori took a deep breath. This might well be the hardest thing he'd done since fighting All for One.

…Okay, maybe that was a _little_ dramatic. But it felt like it was true. Still, what kind of Hero couldn't even talk to one of his students? He was All Might. He had this.

"Good afternoon, young Mineta."

"I wasn't spying on anyone!" The boy yelped shooting to his feet and whirling around.

"I… Did not say you were." Toshinori said, his smile already threatening to slip.

"Oh. Good." Mineta blinked, glancing around. "Uh, what's up, All Might?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted to talk with you one on one for a bit."

"Am I in trouble?" Mineta's eyes grew wide. "If this is about hidden cameras, I swear I don't know anything about it."

"You're not in trouble." Toshinori assured him, ignoring that second part. "I merely wish to spend some time with you, as you are one of my students."

"With me?" Mineta raised an eyebrow, pointing to himself. "Not Midoriya or Bakugo?"

"Er, no. Why?"

"Because aren't they, like, your disciples or something?"

 _…You know, I think I can almost hear Aizawa saying 'I told you so'._

"No no." Toshinori shook his heads. "They are merely my students. No different than you."

"If you say so." Mineta said doubtfully.

"Well," Toshinori said brightly. "Is there anything you wished to discuss, young Mineta? Anything you'd like advice on."

"…I mean, you're the teacher. Shouldn't you _already_ have something you want to discuss with me?"

 _Throw me a bone here, kid. This teaching thing's not as easy as it looks._

"Humor me." Toshinori said, keeping a friendly smile on his face. "You can ask me anything you'd like.

"Okay…Well, y'know, I've always wanted to know what it was like to be All Might."

 _Well, that's at least familiar ground. If I had a nickel for every fan who'd—_

"I bet you could get with any lady hero you wanted," The boy grinned up at him dreamily, waggling his eyebrows. "I bet they were practically _throwing_ themselves at you."

 _…I… Don't know why I'm surprised._

"Er…" Toshinori frowned uncomfortably, feeling like he was talking to a tabloid reporter. "Not really."

"All Might. _C'mon."_ Mineta grinned, crossing his arms and raising a brow. "No need to lie to me, it's just us guys here."

"Well…" Toshinori scratched the back of his head. Truth be told, the boy wasn't completely off the mark. There had been plenty of lovely heroines who'd flirted with him, and some of them had been very… _forward_ , but he wasn't about to tell the Mineta that.

Because no. Just no.

"I'm afraid I didn't have time for a relationship."

That wasn't strictly true either, after he'd sent All for One packing the first time, he could have easily gotten a ladyfriend, well, after he'd recovered from his injuries anyway. But he didn't want to run the risk of exposing his secret—the fewer people who knew about One for All, the better.

"Meh, no big deal." The boy waved his hand. "One-night stands are cool too. Bet you had _plenty_ of those."

"I'm afraid not." Well… There had been that _one_ time he'd gotten drunk with Midnight and—Nope. Not the time to think about that. "I'm afraid I was simply too busy."

"Really?" The boy stared at him in crestfallen disbelief. As though he'd been told for the very first time that; no, Santa _wasn't_ real. "That sucks, and now that you're all skeletal and stuff you're kinda screwed. Who'd wanna get with that?"

 _Okay. Ouch._

"Although…" Mineta went on slowly, perking up. "Now that you're like this I bet you could score some _major_ sympathy points! The whole world saw how hard you fought when you lost your powers, the ladies love that kinda noble sacrifice stuff. And since you don't have to be the number one hero, you must have _loads_ of time! You can finally cash in on all that All Might fame!" He beamed up at Toshinori, as though he'd solved all the problems in the world.

Toshinori stared, somewhat amazed. Mineta thought about the fairer sex with a focus that rivaled Midoriya's fascination with quirks. Just listening to this made him feel like he needed a bath.

 _But_. Mineta was still one of his students. He had a duty to the boy to try to guide him.

And duty was one thing he had _never_ shied away from.

"Young Mineta," he began, shifting the topic away from his past relationships, or lack thereof. "May I ask you a question?"

The boy blinked but nodded. "Of course, All Might."

"Why do you want to be a hero?"

"To be popular with the ladies." The boy said immediately.

"I… See." Toshinori answered slowly.

 _Wasn't quite sure what I was expecting there._

"Why?" Mineta frowned, suddenly looking uncertain. "Do you… Do you think that's not a good reason?"

"Er, well…" Toshinori hesitated, then decided to be honest. That usually seemed to work. "There are plenty of people who became heroes to achieve fame. Some of them are quite skilled. However, I must admit that, in my experience, heroes who are motivated by fame tend to be less effective than those with other motivations."

"…What makes you say that?"

"Well, young Mineta, it has to do with drive. Look at Midoriya; it is his dream to protect others, and it is to achieve this dream that he puts himself on the line again and again, using his quirk no matter how much it hurts his body."

 _Which is a problem, actually. I really wish I could get him to stop breaking his bones, it's just not a healthy lifestyle._

"That's true." Mineta nodded, looking thoughtful. "I've noticed that everyone seems to admire him, I've overheard most of the girls saying all kinds of things about him when they thought none of the guys were listening…"

 _…Oh my god, kid._

Mineta frowned. "I never hear them saying that I look cool… Even when I do cool stuff."

I'm _just…going to ignore that and focus on the lesson for now._

"Well, allow me to explain the key differences between your motivations. You wish to be popular. There's nothing wrong with wanting people to look up to you or to admire you. But allow me to paint you a picture: say there is a powerful villain going on a rampage, threatening a civilian's life. But you're aware that if you choose to fight this villain, there is a fairly good chance that you will die. What do you do?"

"I get the help of someone who can beat the villain." Mineta answered.

Toshinori shook his head. "There's nobody around to help you, in fact you _are_ the help. There's no time to wait for other heroes, because people are going to die _right now._ Tell me, what do you think Midoriya would do?"

"He'd…challenge the villain." Mineta answered looking at the ground.

"He would, yes. In fact, he's done that in the past. I know he's challenged powerful villains alone that by all accounts he had no chance of beating. And do you know? He has emerged victorious. Despite the odds, despite the danger, well…" Toshinori shook his head, thinking back to when he had first challenged All for One, back when the man had been the undefeatable lord of evil and he had been the _only one_ who could do anything about it. "You'd be amazed what can be accomplished, if you willing to put everything on the line."

"And…" Mineta's shoulder's slumped. "I don't have that in me, do I?"

 _Oops. Way to go, wonder teacher._

Toshinori took a deep breath and placed his hands on his young student's shoulders. "Young Mineta, look at me." The boy raised his head. "It is true that there are people who are born with a natural bravery, a natural instinct to help others no matter the cost to themselves. But you do not need to be ashamed if you are not. Because these things _can_ be learned, that is the whole point of this academy. People can be born heroes, but they can also be made into ones. You have every bit as much potential as your classmates. If you wish to be a true hero, all you have to do is reach inside yourself. To go beyond…"

"Plus Ultra?" Mineta finished in a small voice.

Toshinori smiled. "Indeed. In my career I've met many professional heroes who started off like you, wanting to be a hero for popularity or fame. Many of them stay that way for their entire lives." He admitted. "But the ones who don't, the ones who grow into something _more…_ " Toshinori shook his head, remembering the comrades he had known throughout the years. "They became a sight to behold!"

"And you think I can do that?"

"Young Mineta, I _know_ you can."

"I see." Mineta looked down and seemed to be deep in thought.

 _Nicely done, Toshi, nicely done. I think you're getting a hang of this._

Mineta looked up. "I think I understand All Might." The boy squared his shoulders and raised his chin. "I want to be a hero so that I can protect all the pretty ladies of the world!"

 _That's…slightly better, I guess._

"It's a good start." Toshinori smiled. "We'll work on it."

* * *

The festival was nothing to write home about in Shinsou's opinion. There were performers, food vendors, and game stalls where people were spending more money than necessary to play, most-likely, rigged games to win prizes that they could have purchased for half as much as playing the game cost.

That didn't seem to discourage Kaminari though.

"Wow dude, your aim sucks." Mina commented as one of Karishma's rings bounced off the edge of a bottle and fell down.

"This is harder than it looks." Kaminari complained, picking up his last ring and took more careful aim to the same ultimate result. "Mark my words, I will win that giraffe." He declared, pointing up to giant stuffed animal hanging over head.

"That's the spirit, kid." The man behind the counter grinned. "Just for you, I'll give you the next set of rings half price."

"Thanks dude!" Kaminari slapped some cash onto the counter. "Lay 'em on me."

They watched him awhile, carefully tossing the rings and neatly missing every time.

"How much does getting a ring around that bottle mean to you?" Shinsou asked.

"At the moment?" Kaminari answered, holding up the last ring. "Quite a bit."

"In that case," Shinsou answered. His chest tightened slightly as Kaminari's eyes went blank. "Take a deep breath, take careful aim, and throw the ring perfectly onto the bottle."

Mechanically, Kaminari turned, raised his hand, and threw the ring. Shinsou released his control just as the ring left Kaminari's fingers, the blond consciousness returned just in time to hear the clink as ring landed neatly around the rim of the bottle.

"Hey, I did it!"

"Good for you kid!" The carney laughed, glancing curiously at Shinsou for a moment before shrugging and reaching up for the giraffe. "Here ya go. Make sure you tell anyone who asks what stall you won it from."

"Sure thing," Kaminari said, taking the prize with only a hint of uncertainty and wandering back towards his classmates. "So… What just happened there?" He asked glancing at them. "You brainwashed me, right?"

Shinsou nodded. "That alright?"

"Sure." The blond nodded easily. "No harm done. But how did that work? I thought you couldn't make people do complicated things?"

"I can't. Throwing a ring is not actually a difficult thing that requires you to do something from memory. You already knew how to do it without thinking about it, I was just able to make you do it accurately the first try."

"Is that how it works?" Sero asked. "You can just make people do things incredibly precisely, as long as it's a simple thing?"

"Sometimes." Shinsou shrugged. "It's not like it could have hurt his chances."

"Hey! I wasn't doing that badly!" Kaminari protested.

"We just watched you miss thirty times in a row." Shinsou countered.

Kaminari grumbled at him and glanced around. "Hey, where's Mina?"

"She wandered off after the twenty third miss." Sero supplied. "She said something about a bounce house. I think I saw Kirishima wander off towards one of those test of strength things where you hit the target and try to ring the bell."

"A bounce house?" Kaminari perked up. "What are we waiting for? Those things are awesome!"

"The future heroes of the world, everyone." Shinsou sighed.

"Oh, don't be so serious," Sero laughed. "We can't fight supervillains every day."

* * *

The sun was starting to set and the festival was winding down. Kirishima was carrying several prizes; apparently, he hadn't been able to ring the bell with the hammer they'd given him, so he'd used his quirk and punched the target instead.

He'd won several times before being politely asked to leave before he broke the bell.

Shinsou stared at the giraffe in his arms, then looked at Kaminari. "But I don't _want_ a stuffed giraffe."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Kaminari said, "But it was your quirk that won it, so I think that you should have it."

"But you're the one who wanted it in the first place." Shinsou protested, behind him, Sero and Mina were giggling at his annoyance.

"Even so," Kaminari answered with somber sincerity, doing his utmost to keep himself from grinning at the expressions on Mina and Sero's faces. "Giving it to you is the _right thing to do_."

Shinsou stared at him listlessly for a long moment. "What if…" He said slowly. "I gave it to you. As a gift. From one friend to another." He held out the animal, waving it slightly as if that might make it more enticing. "Then would you take the stupid thing?"

"Wow, I'd be honored." Kaminari grinned. "But I'm afraid out friendship just hasn't quite reached that level, yet." He shook his head mournfully. "These things shouldn't be rushed, you know."

Shinsou sighed. "It's honestly impressive how much all of you are able to weaponize the idea of friendship specifically to annoy me. But fine, whatever. I'll keep the thing." He pulled it back and stared at it grumpily. "I'll give it to Eri or something. If Set doesn't destroy it first."

"You think that's likely?" Mina asked.

Shinsou thought for a moment, then shook his head. "He'll probably attack it once or twice, but once he realizes it doesn't feel pain, he'll get bored and leave it alone."

"Is you cat actually Satan?" Sero asked, raising an eyebrow. "The way you talk about him, he sounds like he could be."

"Yeah, did you see the state Bakugo was in yesterday? I thought only Midoriya could get him that mad."

"He's just a cat." Shinsou shrugged.

"I've never seen him do anything evil." Mina observed.

"That's because he sees you as a cheap source of belly rubs. He's not going to ruin that by making you fear him."

"Well that makes me feel cheap." She pouted.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure he sees me as his handmaiden, or possibly his bed warmer." He shrugged. "It's actually quite an honor."

Mina snorted. "See, your voice is always deadpan, I can't tell if you're being serious."

"I am always serious." Shinsou said, clutching the oversized giraffe plushy with quiet dignity. "By the way, Kaminari?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm tired." Shinsou said, "You'll carry this back to the dorm for me, won't you?"

"What? No."

* * *

"Thanks." Shinsou said, taking the giraffe out of his hands.

Kaminari blinked, looking around. They were back at the dorm. When had they…?

"Dude, did you seriously brainwash me into carrying that back here?"

"Lies and slander." Shinsou answered, his expression completely neutral.

"You gave it a piggyback ride the whole way." Mina giggled, holding up her phone. There was a picture of him trailing behind Shinsou, the giraffe's front legs slung over his shoulders while the neck and head rose above his head like the world's stupidest hat.

Kaminari turned to Shinsou, feeling kind of angry. Sure, he'd been joking around with the guy, but just brainwashing him out of the blue and making him walk all that way like that? Not cool. He opened his mouth to say so, but something in Shinsou's expression made him pause.

He looked… Not nervous, exactly, but like he was waiting for something. Like he was walking out onto ice over two feet of water and was wondering if he was going to get soaked or not.

Kaminari thought for a moment, then smiled and shrugged. "Well, no harm done." Shinsou relaxed and nodded thankfully.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, I'll get my revenge."

"Oh?"

"Yep. I'll… Uh, charge all your sock with static electricity and stick 'em to the ceiling. Then you'll have to walk around without socks, it'll be awful."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "Can you actually do that?"

"Dunno." Kaminari answered, looking at his hand thoughtfully. "But now I really want to try it."

"Beware the Thunderdolt!" Mina giggled. "May all socks quaver before him."

Kaminari grinned. That name was really starting to grow on him.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **And here's another chapter. The Mineta and All Might bit happened because my Beta wanted to see it, and I took it as a challenge. Mineta might be easy to write, but he's challenging to give depth to. I can't just use him for slapstick and a punching bag… well, I** _ **can**_ **, but that doesn't mean I have to.**

 **Also, will I ever do anything with Set? Or is he just a boogey man? Who can say?**


	10. Friendship Team Beta

**What's that? A chapter? How neat.**

 **What's that?** _ **More**_ **friends? Of course, there's more friends.**

 **Chapter Ten: Friendship Team Beta**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

Shinsou stared up at the ceiling. Above his head, arranged like stars in the night sky, were his socks.

Literally _all_ of his socks.

"I really didn't think he was serious," he sighed. Apparently Kaminari was a man who made good on his threats. He'd need to make a mental note of that.

He'd only been away for about an hour training with Aizawa. Had Kaminari been staking out his room for the chance to do this or something?

Well, whatever. He moved to pull his desk chair over so that he could reach the ceiling. Then something furry slunk out from under his desk. Shinsou stared, tilting his hair to one side.

"Set?" he hazarded.

The all the tabby's fur was standing on end, making him look about twice his normal size. The cat was vibrating, looking about as happy as a toddler finding out that they were only getting one piece of candy when they'd expected a whole bag.

"You get caught in the crossfire?" Shinsou asked.

The cat gave a malevolent cough and spat out a clump of dirty blond hair. Shinsou raised an eyebrow and crouched to examine it. "This isn't your hair," he said reflectively. "I suppose you weren't too happy about your sudden makeover."

The cat hissed, and Shinsou gave it a pat, twitching when little arcs of static shot from the fur to his fingers. "There, there, it'll wear off soon." The cat growled. "I'm sure you taught the Thunderdolt a serious lesson about trespassing." Shinsou cooed, then paused. "…maybe I should go find him and offer him some bandages."

Set spat out another clump of blond hair.

"No, you're right." Shinsou nodded. "A man's room is his castle. He brought it upon himself."

* * *

"Psst."

Toshinori blinked and glanced around the cafeteria but didn't see anyone close by. Maybe it had just been in his head.

"No, All Might, down here!"

Toshinori looked back and down. "Oh. Mineta." He said. "My apologies, I didn't see you because, er…."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm short." The boy grumbled sliding into the seat beside him. "Forget it, that's not important. He glanced around furtively then pulled a manila folder out of his backpack and placed it on the table. " _This_." he said slyly, "is what's important."

A lone warning bell went off in his head, and Toshinori eyed the folder like it was about to grow tentacles and attack. Toshinori bought time by lifting a spoonful of egg into his mouth and chewed reflectively. Maybe it would be something completely innocent. He gave Mineta a long look, taking the measure of the triumphant gleam in the boy's eye.

 _…I wonder if I can telepathically tell Midoriya to come over and make a distraction. Isn't a part of me living inside him due to One for All? I feel like that's a thing I should be able to do._

Mineta slid the folder a little closer. "Go on." The midget urged. "Take a look. I put a lot of effort into this…" he patted the papers smugly. "Just for you."

 _Midoriya, my boy! Your master needs you! Start a fight! Tell Bakugo he's your best friend! Cause a disaster!_

When no explosions sounded nearby, Toshinori reluctantly reached out and took the folder. Unable to think of a way to refuse will pinned beneath his student's excited gaze, he had no choice to open the folder and take a look.

 _Well, at least it's not a bunch of magazines._

He flicked through the sheets of paper. They appeared a set of fact sheets, each one forming a dossier on a different hero. Many of the names were familiar: Midnight, Mount Lady, Power Girl, Anataz—the list went on." He glanced over the papers into the eager expression of the boy before him.

"Er… what exactly is this?"

"It's the list."

"Yes, I can see that. It appears to be a bunch of dossiers on various heroes." He scanned the names again the warning bells let out another clang. "Or rather, heroines…"

"Yep," the boy declared proudly. "I spent all last night going through my notebooks, crosschecking the facts to compile a list of perfect candidates."

"Candidates for what?" Toshinori demanded.

"I looked at hobbies, morals, and, of course, sexiness and promiscuity…" The boy waggled his eyebrows, lost his own little world of excitement as the red lights began to flash behind Toshinori's eyes.

"Candidates for what?" he repeated, a little louder—but not too loud, he didn't want to draw anyone's attention to this… whatever this was.

"And, of course, if they're known fans of All Might. That one's important."

"Mineta!" Toshinori said firmly, making the boy blink.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly are these?"

"It's a list of all the eligible heroines."

"Okay," All Might said patiently. "And _why_ are you giving me this."

"To help you get laid, duh."

"…Excuse me?" Toshinori said weakly, dearly hoping he'd misheard.

"Well, it's about what we talked about yesterday." Mineta said frankly. "You were the number one hero, the most popular guy on the planet, and you _didn't_ get laid?" Mineta slammed his fist against the table. "That's an injustice that will not stand! Since clearly you need help, I've taken it upon myself to be your personal wingman." He grinned. "Think of it as thanks for all the hard work you do to teach us."

 _You know… on second thought, I wish it had been magazines._

* * *

"Have you finished the homework Midnight assigned yet?" Yaozorozu asked.

Shinsou shook his head. "Haven't started."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I'm having trouble understanding why art history is relevant to hero work." Shinsou shrugged, stepping out into the cool night air and holding the door open behind him for his classmate. Yaozorozu nodded her thanks as they continued on their way towards the concrete training building.

"All forms of academics are important!" Yaozorozu declared, raising her hands in front of her chest and shaking them for emphasis.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you're right, the next time I'm fighting a villain and can't get them to talk, I'll be sure to take comfort in the fact that I know the great shift in art in the 1500's is considered to have signaled the end of the middle ages."

"You mean the 1400's" Yaozorozu said primly.

Shinsou gave her a bland look.

Yaozorozu flushed, "sorry."

"It's fine, I'm the one who got the fact wrong." Shinsou yawned. "It's not your fault that I'm a bad student."

Yaozorozu opened her mouth but was saved from having to think of something to say by a loud voice.

"Well, well, well. Hitoshi Shinsou, fancy seeing you here!"

Shinsou looked around, three people were approaching. "Hello, Monoma." He nodded. He was pretty sure the redhead's name was Kendo, the other was that plant girl he'd brainwashed in the joint training.

"I see you seem to be settling into your new placement in the hero course quite nicely." Monoma said, a friendly smile on his face that didn't quite match up with the smug glint in his eyes. "In Class 1-A."

"I suppose." Shinsou shrugged.

Monoma held out a hand, "Well, my friend. No hard feelings?"

Shinsou eyed the offered limb, then shrugged and grasped it in a firm shake. "Thanks, I guess."

"You are welcome. Of course, it truly is a shame," Monoma sighed. "It would have been a _pleasure_ to have you in our class, you would have excelled! Alas, it appears your potential shall be squandered with those luck-dependent neophytes of class 1-A!"

"Oh, give it a rest, Monoma." Kendo groaned. "Eraserhead is his mentor, so it makes sense Shinsou would be in his class. Hey Momo." She nodded.

"Hey Kendo!" the girl answered, smiling brightly. "What brings you out here tonight?"

"We were wondering if we could join in your quirk practice." Kendo answered, smirking. "Your class came out on top in the joint training, so we were thinking if we could work with you and learn that would be a great help."

"We hardly had it all go our way," Yaozorozu answered. "I think that's a great idea. "

"And then," Monoma declared, "Once we have learned everything about what your class can do, we will finally be able to surp—" His words cut off as Kendo clamped a hand over his mouth and hauled him back. She shot them an apologetic look.

"You don't need to apologize for him anymore." Yaozorozu said sympathetically. "We get it. We feel the same way about Bakugo."

Shinsou watched Monoma struggle for a minute before realizing he was being stared at. He turned his head and met the plant girl's frosty gaze. She probably resented that she'd been caught in his brainwashing and made her take down her teammates. He nodded blandly towards her. "Hello."

She sniffed. "Greetings, Beguiler of Wills."

Okay… just a hint of salt here.

"Don't mind Shiozaki, either" Kendo said, still holding back Monoma. "That's just how she refers to people."

"Is that so?"

Kendo smiled and nodded. "I'm the Hands of Judgement, apparently."

"Oh, that's good." Yaozorozu smiled, then her shoulders slumped slightly. "It's definitely better than nickname I got saddled with."

"Oh?" Kendo grinned. Yaozorozu didn't answer. "Momo, c'mon. You can't say something like that and leave a girl hanging. What do they call you?"

Yaozorozu sighed. "…Easy-Bake Oven."

Kendo snorted. "Really? I would have thought it would have been something like… Mother of Creation."

"That doesn't roll off the tongue." Shinsou pointed out.

"It's growing on me." Yaozorozu admitted. "The name also inspired me to try something new." She held up a hand and her face tensed in concentration. There was a glow, and a bite-sized cupcake appeared in her palm. "Doing the carbohydrates and sugars are easier than I thought they'd be. But the proteins from the egg are _hard._ " She held it out with a grin. "Want a bite?"

Kendo stared at it. "Erm…"

"No, I suppose not." Yaozorozu sighed, popping the cupcake in her mouth and chewing.

"Sorry, it's just that's kind of gross."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with it." Yaozorozu protested. "In fact, it would not be exaggerating to state that it is literally more hygienic than one you'd buy in a bakery."

"How do you figure that?"

"No bacteria." Yaozorozu answered. "Or fungus, or any other pathogen you might find in food. Because I have to make it all and can't make living things."

"Hmm…" Kendo looked thoughtful. "I guess that's true. But…"

"It still feels gross." Shinsou answered for her.

"Yeah."

Yaozorozu sighed again. "That's fair, I suppose."

As they approached the sparring building, it was clear some of the other students were already going at it; the air filled with the sound of echoing explosions.

 _Oh joy. Bakugo is in there._ Shinsou glanced at Monoma, who Kendo had finally decided to release, and wondered how long it would take before they were at each other's throats. Sans a distraction, he gave it about two minutes.

* * *

"Stop hopping around and _fight!"_

"Ribbit."

They stepped inside just in time to see Bakugo launching himself at Tsuyu, his hands crackling with the promise of violent exothermic release. Tsuyu legs flexed and she leapt out of his path. The exploding teen threw out one hand to the side, sending out a bang that changed his direction mid-stride. His other hand rose ready to blow Tsuyu out of the air, but the girl opened her mouth and her tongue whipped him across the face with a meaty smack, sending him off balance and crashing into the ground.

"You should be more careful about throwing yourself into the air like that, Bakugo." She chided. "You can't change direction that quickly. A villain with a quick mid- or long-range quirk might take advantage.

"Don't lecture me!" he snarled, pushing himself to his feet. "You're not my fuckin' teacher!"

"I mean, the point of these spars is to learn, right?"

"So, learn your place!" Bakugo threw up his hand and pulled the pin out of his gauntlet. There was a bang and a blast of smoke, and both were obscured from view.

"Oh, hey guys!" Kirishima waved them over from the bleachers. "See you've picked up some new friends for the party. Don't suppose Tetsutetsu is gonna show?"

"Probably not." Kendo answered. "He said he needed to pump some iron, which I'm pretty sure means he going to be eating it."

"Can he actually eat iron?" Kirishima asked. "Like, just straight up pick up a horseshoe and take a bite out of it?"

"I'm not actually sure. Although I've seen him put iron fillings in a glass of water and drink it."

"That's pretty metal." Sero said from his spot on the bleachers.

"Dude." Kirishima groaned. "That was terrible."

"If it hurts, it works." Sero answered. "Such is the way of the pun."

"So, why's Bakugo fighting with Tsu?" Yaozorozu asked, watching as the frog girl leapt out of the way of another blast. "Doesn't he normally spar with you?"

"Yeah," Kirishima nodded. "But I've just been feeling a little crispy lately from all matches and thought I'd go a few rounds with someone else."

"Then Tsuyu drew the short straw and was volunteered as tribute." Sero added. "She's been doing good actually, they've been goin' at it for five minutes straight and Bakugo has yet to 'splode her."

"Stop running you froggy bitch!"

"I think he's starting to get a little nettled." Sero said mildly.

"So, what else is new?" Kirishima grinned. "Any of you interested in going a round with me? Watching them go at it is getting me fired up." He cracked his knuckles. "What about you, Kendo? Tetsutetsu tells me you pack a mean right hook."

"That's putting it lightly." Kendo smirked. "But I'm down for that if you're-"

"Actually Kendo," Monoma interrupted. "If you don't mind, I think I would like first shot at our dear friends from Class A." Kendo turned a suspicious eye on him. "Oh, come now, there's no need to look at me like that."

"Do you genuinely believe that?" Kendo asked, both eyebrows arched.

"You wound me." Monoma declared, throwing back his head with dramatic sigh.

"I don't have a problem with it." Kirishima added, shrugging. "You know, much as I'd like to fight ya, Kendo, our quirks are both close combat. I might get more out of fighting tricky quirks that don't play to my strengths, know what I mean?"

"See? He's fine with it." Monoma said happily. Kendo gave him a long look, then shrugged.

"All right. Have fun, I guess," she said, in a tone that making it clear she meant something more along the lines of 'control yourself'.

"Wonderful!" Monoma beamed, turning back to Kirishima and sweeping his arm toward the side of the sparring area free of smoke and angry curse words. "Shall we?"

Kirishima grinned, moving towards the ring. "Bring it on, Copy Boy."

Monoma tilted his head to the side. "Oh? Are you sure you are prepared for what is to come?"

"If you've copied somebodies quirk, all I gotta do is last until it wears off, and in case you didn't know, tanking stuff is kinda my thing." Kirishima cracked his knuckles. "Then your only option is to copy mine, and fighting someone with my own quirk?" Kirishima grinned. "I've fought Testsutetsu, it's hardly unfamiliar ground for me!"

"Well, I'm afraid you've got me there. But…" Monoma's lips twitched into a grin. "I think that, perhaps before you get _too_ confident, there's a little tidbit of info you might like to hear."

"…What's that?" Kirishima asked cautiously.

"I gave Shiozaki a little tap on the shoulder earlier."

Kirishima went still, his eyes flicking over to the green-haired girl on the sidelines. He swallowed. "Um…"

"Well, it's like you said!" Monoma said brightly, his hair turning green as he spoke, growing thicker and bumpy as it stretched down his body. "All you've got to do is last five minutes."

* * *

"That's right! Run for your life! Let desperation grant you strength until despair closes in!" Monoma cackled.

"Well, at least he's enjoying himself." Kendo sighed, watching as Kirishima scrambled across the arena as vines lashed at him from every angle. Shinsou tilted his head as he watched the fight, a minute had already elapsed, and the fight was still going on. Kirishima hadn't lasted that long against Shiozaki herself. He watched as Kirishima battered away a vine with his hand and didn't immediately have it wrap around his arm.

"It doesn't look like he can control that quirk as well as you can." He commented, glancing at the vine-haired girl.

"The reflections of the Twisted Mirror always fall short of the pureness of truth."

"…Okay."

"You can't expect him to perfectly control every new quirk he copies right off the bat." Kendo translated.

"Ah. Makes sense." Shinsou nodded. He heard a curse and glanced over just in time to see several vines wrap around Karishma's legs and pull him off his feet. Monoma cackled and began to spin, swinging his opponent through the air like a ball and chain.

"Foolish." Shiozaki shook her head. "The Twisted Mirror wastes energy tormenting his prey. He would be better off rendering his victim helpless and prostrate for final judgement." Shinsou gave her a sidelong glance and tried to scoot a little farther away from her.

"Well, if the fight was over that quickly, neither of them would get much out of it." Yaozorozu pointed out. "These spars are about sharpening our skills, not just beating each other up."

"I suppose." Shinsou nodded. "But somehow, when you take a statement like that and put it next to someone like Monoma, I'm not sure it holds up." As if to emphasize his point, Monoma released Kirishima mid-swing and sent him careening into the wall.

"He's… not actually that bad." Kendo said, her words coming out a little flat against the backdrop of Monoma's cackles.

"Really?" Yaozorozu raised an eyebrow.

'Really." Kendo nodded. "I admit he comes off as… er…"

"A maniac?" Shinsou supplied.

"Overly competitive." Kendo corrected. "But that's mostly just bark. He's actually quite nice once you look past that." She glanced at Shinsou. "He's great at helping our classmates discover the ins and outs of their quirks. Our class really is stronger for his presence. He pushes us all to be better."

"But you probably can't take him anywhere out in public." Yaozorozu said.

"Oh, no. Definitely not." Kendo agreed instantly. "It would be great if he had a mute button. I live in fear of the day he starts talking to reporters, he's going to be a PR nightmare."

"I can believe that," said Shinsou, eyeing the currently green-haired blond.

"You know," Kendo went on. "He was actually kinda bummed when you didn't get put in Class B. More than just because it means Class A got more students, I mean." She added hurriedly. "I think he really wanted you in our class."

Shinsou grunted noncommittedly. He could certainly understand why the guy might feel that way; their quirks were similar in that they depended on others to be useful. Both of them would _always_ be fighting an uphill battle in what they could do alone.

He wondered what kind of half-audible mutters the boy had heard in school halls when he'd made clear his intention to be a hero. Well, he could probably make a fairly good guess.

Still…

"This is the end, Class A!" Monoma's laughter rose to fever pitch as the vines encircled Kirishima's legs.

"Is that what I sounded like during the sports festival?" he asked, glancing somewhat desperately at Sero.

The boy looked thoughtful, then nodded. "Yep. It was honestly hard to tell the two of you apart." Shinsou gave him a flat look and Sero laughed. "Nah, just messin' with ya. Don't worry, you didn't come off anything like him. You were way more serious and unnerving."

"…Thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it."

Monoma jerked his head, breaking off the vines just as his hair became blond once more. He strolled toward his captive opponent, tangled from the neck down. The vines around Kirishima stopped moving, "Well? Do you wish to give in?"

Kirishima glared, then smirked. "Nah." His head jerked, and his skin turned stony. "Red Riot Spikes!" The vines entrapping him quivered as red-gray spike sprouted from them. Kirishima jerked and thrashed around like a dog with a squirrel in his mouth and tore the vines to shred.

Kirshima stood, panting and looking like the secret lovechild of a porcupine and a hunk of granite. "If you can't pile on any more vines, then there's nothing to stop me from doing that. Kirishima head tilted, cracking his neck. "What else you got?"

"Oh bravo" Monoma held out his hands and clapped. "Just what I'd expect from the oh so tenacious Class A." he tilted his head to one side and placed a palm against his cheek. "Whatever shall I do?"

Kirishima stared at him. "This is a trap. This is definitely a trap."

"Oh? Do you think so?"

"Ye-"

* * *

"You copied my quirk when we shook hands?" Shinsou asked as Monoma strutted towards them.

"I thought it would be a useful thing to do." Monoma smiled. There was a slight pause and the boy's smile became a little fixed. "I do hope you will forgive me for taking advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself…" he trailed off, the actual question stopping short of being asked.

Shinsou shrugged. "I'm the last person who should take offense at someone using their quirk. It's fine."

Monoma smile widened, "My, how _gracious_!"

"I don't think you need to make Kirishima run the full hundred laps around the ring, though. Why don't you cancel it before his legs give out?"

"Oh, no need." Monoma waved it off. "My five minutes should be up right about… now."

It was a few moments later before the red-haired teen came staggering back through the doors, he made it about halfway towards them before falling down. "I…need…to…" he panted between gasps. "Learn… to keep… my mouth shut… and just… take the other guy… out."

"Probably." Shinsou said. "At least when I'm around."

"I'll figure out the secret of breaking your brainwashing yet!" Kirishima raised a hand and waved it at him feebly.

"Let me know when you do," Shinsou answered. "That' a weakness I'll need to account for."

"Sure. Now, I think… I'm just gonna… lie here till my heart slows down."

"Want me to get you some water?" Shinsou asked.

"I would love you forever."

"I'll settle for a thank you."

"Sounds good."

* * *

Shinsou walked back towards his room, rubbing his aching shoulder. He'd ended up being the one sparring with Kendo. That had been… fun.

'Bitch-slapped across a room' might, quite literally, be a better description. He hadn't even caught her with his quirk even once. But to his surprise, he didn't feel particularly upset about it.

It had been good practice, and she'd offered him helpful tips every time she'd taken him down too. That had been nice. Not to mention he hadn't been the only one having trouble; an image of Sero wrapped up in a yarn ball of vines after accepting a spar with Shiozaki flashed across his mind and he smirked.

He was still far behind his classmates, but he had clawed his way onto the same road as them. As long as he kept moving forward, he'd catch up.

* * *

"You okay, Bakugo?" Kirishima asked, taking another chug from the water bottle Shinsou had brought him.

"Shut up and die."

"Are you upset because Tsu managed to kick you into the wall?" Sero asked. "At least you didn't get wrapped up in thorny vines, that was painful."

"Hey, I had the same thing happen to me." Kirishima said. "It's not that bad."

"You have rock for skin." Sero shot back. "Us fleshy guys are less scratch resistant."

"That chameleon thing is bullshit." Bakugo huffed. "A hero should fight their opponent head on."

"Fair enough." Sero said, grinning. "Although if she hadn't used it, she would have been holding back. Would that have made you happy?"

"I got her in the end," Bakugo snapped.

"Yeah, after half an hour." Sero agreed, nodding amiably. "That's gotta be a new record: longest time in the ring with without getting Sweaty McBoomboom-ed. She should get a medal."

"You wanna try beating her score?" Bakugo growled, holding up his hands. "I'd be _happy_ to give you a try."

"Nah, I'm good." Sero yawned. "I'm tired, and I can hear the siren song of my pillow calling out to me. Night guys."

Bakugo gave him the finger and stomped off to his room.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Enter class B.**

 **And the Mineta and All Might shenanigans virtually** _ **NOBODY**_ **asked for. Because I can.**

 **What's this? over half the chapter had next to nothing to do with Shinsou. The friendship is evolving, mutating, growing** _ **stronger.**_ **I don't know how much longer I'll be able to contain it.**

 **Grab your Bestie and save yourselves!**

 **Anyway, Until next time.**


	11. SomethingSomething Friendship Joke

**So life happened, I got busy focusing on Grad School applications. Took up a lot of my focus. Now I had a lull in it, sat down and cranked out 2000 words in a single sitting. Neat.**

 **But now we're back. For more friendship, but absolutely NO plot. We DO NOT do that here.**

… **Okay, I have to admit that some plot has snuck in. But it's only around that crap with Mineta and All Might. I swear that Shinsou remains plot free.**

 **Chapter 11: Something… Something… Friendship Joke.**

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

"Er, excuse me, Cementoss?"

The literature teacher looked up and blinked, "All Might?"

The skeletal man grinned and nodded. "You can call me Toshinori if you like."

"And you can call me Ken."

"I shall." Toshinori nodded, "May I join you?" he asked nodding at the table. They were the only ones in the teachers break room. It was a peaceful place, a bastion from the insanity that were their students.

"Oh course," Ken nodded. Toshinori smiled wearily and took a seat across from him, letting out an exhausted sigh as he leaned back. If the concrete hero had eyebrows, he would have raised them. "Are you alright?"

"Could be worse." Toshinori groaned rubbing the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. "I'm going through some… unexpected difficulties."

"Is that so?" Ken eyed the former number one hero thoughtfully. "Are your injuries acting up?" Toshinori had seen fit to show the injury he carried on his chest to the rest of the faculty when he joined their ranks. It was hard, and humbling, to imagine All Might running around the country stopping crimes wherever he went with a barely functional set of lungs.

"No. Well, actually, yes." The man admitted. "But that's nothing unusual."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, why do you look like you've been run over by a cement truck?"

"I'm having a… teaching issue."

"A student putting you at your wit's end?"

"That's right."

"We've all been there." Ken nodded sagely. It was a well-known fact that teenagers, and people in general, were unstable bundles of hormones always half a second from complete meltdown. Add the presence of quirks and the pressure of hero training, and interpersonal issues were inevitable. You couldn't be a teacher at this school without learning how to deal with such things.

Still, it was rather surreal to think of someone like All Might struggling with this kind of thing, even if he did look like a scarecrow with flesh now.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Toshinori hesitated, then nodded. "Actually, I wouldn't mind some advice. Especially if it came from you."

"Really?" Ken's nonexistent eyebrows rose again. "Why me specifically? There are plenty of other teachers."

"Well, to be honest, the situation is…" Toshinori scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Embarrassing. I'm hoping for help from someone with discretion." Toshinori admitted.

"So, I suppose that rules out Present Mic." Ken answered wryly.

"Definitely." Toshinori agreed.

"Well, there's Aizawa." Ken pointed out. "He's very capable of handling students and you have to drag small talk out of him with a tractor."

"True, I thought about going to him." Toshinori admitted. "But I'm not certain it's a problem he'd feel inclined to help with. Even if he did, he'd… well… always know I'd had this problem. He'd be…"

"Smug?"

"Yeah."

"It's the sign of a good hero to know when to ask for help, even when it's difficult." Ken said. Toshinori shot him a look.

"I'm asking you."

"Hm. True. Well, rest assured that whatever the issue is, provided it isn't a danger to anyone, it will have my complete discretion."

"Thank you." Toshinori smiled. "It's Mineta."

"Uh oh."

Toshinori held up a hand. "Wait. It's not what you're thinking. Well, it's sort of not." the man went on to explain the issue. Ken was glad he had a body mostly made of stone—it helped him keep it straight.

"Hmm…" Ken said, after his fellow teacher had finished. "That's a new one."

"Can you give me any advice on what to do?" Toshinori asked anxiously. "Young Mineta seems quite… enthusiastic."

Ken scratched the part of his neck where his chin would have been if he had one. "Have you considered asking Midnight for assistance?" Ken asked. "I imagine she would be able to convince the boy to stop quite easily."

Toshinori gave him a look. "Would _you_ ask her for help with this?"

Ken thought about it for a moment. "Ah, I think I see the problem."

"I'd be worried she might take it upon herself to help Mineta with his…quest." Toshinori shuddered.

"She does have connections with quite a few heroines." Ken mused. "I imagine she would easily be able to arrange a few mixers."

Toshinori held up a hand. "Can we _not._ The thought is giving me an anxiety attack."

"Why? Do women scare you?"

"No. Woman do not scare me." Toshinori answered sourly. "It's just that if I was going to pursue a relationship, I don't think my pride could survive needing one of my students to play cupid for me."

Ken tilted his head to one side. There was a certain bitterness in the man's voice he hadn't expected. "Toshinori? Is there something else wrong?" The man glanced away, not meeting Ken's eyes. "Toshinori? You can tell me. Cement doesn't gossip."

Toshinori sighed. "It's just…since I've lost the last dregs of my power…I've been feeling…" he trailed off.

"Helpless?" Ken guessed, understanding dawned. What must it be like? Going from one of the strongest men in the world to someone who couldn't walk down the street without coughing up some blood? Who wouldn't have their pride shaken by that?

Toshinori nodded. "Everyone treats me differently too. As though I'm… a civilian. Like I'm made of paper." Ken didn't say anything, better to let the man get it all out. "They're not wrong, of course." Toshinori sighed. "A toddler could probably knock me over now. But just because they're right doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I understand." Ken nodded soothingly. "Although I do not believe there is anything that can be done about it, not if your powers are truly burned out."

"They are." Toshinori nodded, then shot Ken a sharp look. "I don't regret losing them, not in the way I did." He said defensively. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But…"

"They are gone and you're finding it hard."

"…yeah." The blond man shook his head ruefully.

Ken thought for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. The problem was that Toshinori _was_ powerless now; he _was_ essentially a civilian. All the platitudes in the world wouldn't change that.

"I'm afraid you're just going to have to come to terms with it." Ken said at last.

Toshinori looked at him for a moment, then gave a tired grin. "I guess so, and I _will._ I' just gonna need a little bit of time to do so." He shook his head, dismissing the issue. "But I think we're getting a bit off topic here. My problem at the moment is Mineta."

"Hmm. Have you tried telling him no in a loud and firm voice?"

Toshinori was silent.

"You… haven't tried that?" Ken blinked. He'd meant that suggestion as a joke to try to lighten the mood.

"He's very determined about the whole situation." Toshinori said defensively.

"I'm sure he is." Ken said understandingly.

"He doesn't actually listen to my protests."

"But you haven't actually told him that you do not want his assistance in this matter?"

"…Not in so few words." Toshinori looked down and sighed. "Well now I just feel silly. I must admit I was kind of hoping you'd give me advice that would let me step around the whole situation. It's going to be painfully awkward."

"Hmm…" Ken leaned back. "What if, in addition to telling him to stop, you assigned him a difficult training measurement or homework project that would keep him busy? An extra credit assignment, perhaps? I know his grades are far from excellent."

Toshinori perked up. "That could work. It's said the devil's hands are idle playthings, if I give him something else productive to keep him busy, I just might be able to keep him from preparing any more of those folders."

Ken thought for a moment. This might be a little bit extreme but… Mineta. It was likely only a matter of time before the boy required this… "I advise you go see principal Nezu. Ask him for a red folder.

"A red folder?"

"Nezu will explain. I think you will find it the perfect solution to your problem."

Toshinori stood up, looking far more energized than he had when he sat down. "I shall." He nodded. "Thank you, Ken. You've been very helpful."

"Anytime." Ken watched the man leave the room and counted to twenty—just to be sure that he was out of earshot, then he raised a hand and covered his mouth for good measure.

"Pfffffffftttt, hahaha!"

* * *

He was babysitting again.

Not that Shinsou really minded. As much fun as it would be to spend his free day getting pummeled by Aizawa, he couldn't bring himself to mind having to look after a five-year-old for an afternoon instead. Especially one as calm as Eri; she wasn't very fussy and was usually pretty quiet in general. Although, if he thought about where she'd come from, he had to admit there was probably an unpleasant reason for that…

He shook his head—better not to think about it. That was in the past, and the most difficult thing about her now was how shy she was; which was easy to deal with. It gave him an excuse not to have to deal with tons of people.

At the moment, he was taking her out on the forest trail around the edge of campus. It may not be as good as the park trail a few miles away, but Eri wasn't supposed to leave the school grounds without a pro hero around in case any villains got fun ideas about trying to take advantage of her powers. But the trees muffled the sounds of the other students who stayed on the grounds to practice with their quirks and most other students looked to get off campus on their day off, so that was nice. Eri had said her she had a headache and had wanted to get out of the dorm rooms. It had seemed to like a good idea; she was enjoying herself.

"Shinsou, what's that thing?" Eri asked pointing to a rock sitting in a patch of sunlight. He glanced over, there was something brown coiled up resting on top of it.

"It's a snake."

"A snake?" Eri echoed.

"Never seen one before?" Eri shook her head.

"They're reptiles." He explained. "Think of them as ropes with scales and a mouth."

"Is it dangerous?" Eri asked. He gave the snake another glance, its tiny, black bead eyes were staring back.

"Not that kind, it's a Striped Snake. They're pretty common around here. Also harmless...to people, anyway. They eat frogs and things."

"Oh." Eri tentatively stepped closer to the reptile, which flicked its tongue out at her. Then it slithered off into a crack in the rocks, making Eri jump. "How does it move like that?" She asked. "It hasn't got legs."

"I think they just sort of push themselves along," Shinsou shrugged. They'd pretty much already gone over all his knowledge in the field of herpetology as is was.

"Well hello, hello, hello! Look who it is!"

Shinsou sighed. Recently it seemed he couldn't set foot outside his room without bumping into people. Shinsou didn't turn to look for a moment, trying to place the voice. He was fairly certain he didn't know it. They sounded… loud.

Fantastic.

"Hello, Mr. Mirio" Eri said, waving at loud person presumably standing behind him. So, it was someone Eri knew? And was happy to see? That was a surprise. Shinsou turned around.

The guy was tall, with blond hair that rose into a crest above his forehead. He was also shirtless, his chest looking like something you'd expect to see in an anatomy textbook with lines pointing out all the different muscles. He looked like a he was out for a jog, a long one, if the sweat that was literally gleaming on his pecs were anything to go by. Definitely an older student. Shinsou eyed him warily, trying to place where he'd seen this guy before. There was a certain glint in the guy's eyes, a glint he recognized.

It was the look of a high-level extrovert.

He had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to get out of this situation without making a new friend. Seriously, even though All Might himself had told him to make as many friends as possible, there had to be a limit didn't there? Couldn't he just set up a monthly quota of friend making, meet it, then be done with it until the next month?

"Friend of yours, Eri?" he said cautiously.

Eri nodded happily. "He's Mirio."

"Yep, that's me!" The guy smiled, crouching down and ruffling Eri's hair. "And I know you, Mr. Sleepy Guy. Everyone's heard of the rising star who clawed his way into the hero course. If I had a hat, I'd take it off to you. Going for a walk around the woods with this lovely little lady? Enjoying nature on this lovely afternoon? I certainly can't criticize that!"

"…Thanks." If there was one thing being shoved into the trail by friendship that was Class-1A had taught him, it was how to deal with this kind of person. The trick was to be like a tree, let wind their winds of amiability and noise blow past you, rustling your leaves to make them think you were engaged, but ultimately leaving you unchanged.

Or, to put it more succinctly, just stand still and let it happen. Maybe if he stood really still, the extroverts wouldn't be able to see him.

"But Eri, it's strange to see you without the grumpy shadow of Eraserhead. He napping on the job or something?" Well, Eri didn't seem particularly bothered by the guy, so it wasn't like he had a good excuse to leave. He let Eri and Mirio chat for awhile while he zoned out, preparing his mind for the oncoming assault of friendship.

"So, Shinsou, mind if I walk with you two for a bit?" Mirio smiled, standing up and strutting his way. "I just finished my twentieth lap and could use a little cooldown."

"Lap?"

"Around the campus."

Shinsou stared. UA's campus was huge…well, not _that_ huge. But a lap around the perimeter of it had to be at least two miles. Well, those muscles weren't for show then. He shrugged. "Sure."

They ambled off, Mirio talking all the way. It was different from the barrage of Ida's monologues. Rather than staying on one topic and beating it to death with a verbal stick, Mirio swung his words around with wild abandon, swatting at every subject within reach.

It was around when Mirio was telling him about his quirk that Shinsou realized where he'd seen the guy before. He was one of the Big Three, the seniors who were reported to already be stronger than most Pro Heroes. He's seen them in passing before but had never paid that much attention. Why would a molehill pay attention to a mountain? Or something like that. He'd always been too focused on the goal in front of him to pay attention to the one beyond the horizon.

The torrent of words only came to an end when Eri tripped. She had skipped on ahead, following a squirrel when she suddenly fell to her knees in the dirt.

"Wuh oh, you alright there, Eri?" Mirio asked, jogging forward. The girl was shaking, pressing her hand to knee as she sniffled. Mirio crouched before her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Aw, it's okay. You're alright."

Eri whimpered, and her hands moved from her knee to her head. Shinsou's eyes narrowed, there was something poking out from between her fingers. "Uh, Mirio?"

Eri's eyes went wide and she lurched, throwing herself away from the muscular teen and rammed into a tree trunk. The girl shrieked and there was a flash of light, Then the tree vanished, leaving her clutching her head as though it was about to fly off.

"Eri!" Mirio called, stepping forward.

"No!' Eri whimpered waving one hand to ward him off. "D-don't! I can't!"

"Eri!" Shinsou shouted, running forward and grabbing Mirio's arm to haul him back—trying to anyway, the guy was built like a bull. "What's happening?"

The girl's eyes tearful eyes turned on him. "My—" Shinsou didn't hesitate, his gut clenching as he activated his quirk. Eri's eyes went blank.

"Eri." He ordered. "Stand still and calm _down._ " Eri stopped shaking, her hands fell to her side. In the light, he could see a yellow horn almost three inches long jutting out of her forehead. Almost immediately, the light pulsing around her faded. Mirio stepped forward, but Shinsou grabbed his arm. "Wait. Give it a minute."

"Why? Hasn't she stopped?"

"Yes. But she was still panicking a moment ago. If I wake her up now, she'll still be panicking and her quirk might activate again. If we give her a minute for the adrenaline to run its course, she'll be a lot calmer."

The man looked back and forth between the girl and him, then nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Don't wanna get zapped back into being a toddler, amirite?" he eyed Eri thoughtfully. "So that's what your quirk looks like. I'd heard about it, but this is my first-time seeing it. That's pretty neat."

Shinsou shrugged, frowning at the girl. This was the first time he'd ever seen her quirk act up like this. She'd looked pretty freaked out… "Any idea what happened to the tree?" he asked, more to change the subject then out of any particular interest.

"Hmm… let's see" Mirio circled around the girl, careful to keep out of reach and crouched in front of the hole in the ground where the oak had been. "Aha!" he reached into the hole. "It's right here!" he held out his hand, clutching an acorn.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. That tree couldn't have been less than fifty years old, and Eri had pulled torn it all away? just like that? No wonder someone like Eraserhead was normally babysitting her.

Mirio reached down and plucked a leaf off the ground. Very carefully he placed it on the motionless girl's head and stepped back. "Alright, wake her up and let's see if anything happens to the leaf."

Shinsou nodded and let his control disappear. Eri gasped, blinking as the color returned to her eyes. She looked confused, as though someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over her. The leaf on her head, instead of turning into a bud or a ray of sunlight, or whatever a leaf would turn into, remained a leaf.

"What…what happened?" she asked, blinking.

"Well…" Mirio pursed his lips, kneeling down in front of her. "I think it's safe to say your powers are starting to come back. The girl started, her wide eyes locking on him.

"Oh." Her voice was quiet, like she had been told she was dying.

"Aw, c'mon Eri. Don't be like that," Mirio put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Your powers are nothing to be scared of. They're a part of you, you just gotta learn how to use them! At least when your powers go wrong, your pants don't fall down." He shook his head. "Let me tell ya _, that's_ embarrassing." Eri blinked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Did that happen to you?" she asked, her voice full of wonder.

"Did that happen to me?" Mirio laughed. "I _wish_ that was all that happened to me! Let me paint you a picture: there was one time I had to give a presentation to class when I was twelve, right? The person who went before me? They were _awesome._ They were confident, funny, and entertaining as anything. And really, I knew hadn't put much effort into my project. I hadn't practiced at _all_. I was sweating bullets! But knew I couldn't make an excuse not to present. So, I bit the bullet and walked up to the front of class. I introduced myself, my topic, and then realized my notecards were out of order and forgot what I wanted to say."

"That sounds awful." Eri said.

Mirio laughed again and ruffled her hair. "Oh, my poor, sweet Eri. We haven't even gotten to the good part yet. So, I was standing there, knowing my screw-up was just starting, and everyone was looking straight at me 'cause the previous presentation was so good they were all engaged. And then, my quirk activated."

"Your pants fell down?" Eri asked.

"Nope. I turned intangible, as I do, and I started to fall through the floor. I realized what was happening immediately and panicked even harder. I turned all my attention into deactivating my quirk and I succeeded before I even sunk to my knees." He paused, "You know how I shoot out of solid objects when I shift back?" Eri nodded. "Well, that happened. I went rocketing up into the ceiling so hard my head got stuck and I was left hanging there."

Mirio leaned a little closer and continued in a stage-whisper. "But that's not all that happened. You see, when I turned intangible, my clothes started to fall through me. Then, when I turned back, they went shooting off." He bowed his head. "My pants didn't fall down, Eri. Oh no they did not. They _exploded_ off of me." He waved his hands above his head. "So, there I was, stuck in the ceiling, my clothes littered across the room, in my birthday suit for everyone, even the kids in the backrow, to see." He paused for a moment ad bowed his head. "Suffice to say, my presentation did not receive a very good grade. But," he held up a finger. "I bet it was pretty memorable."

It was too much, Eri broke down into wild giggles, clutching her stomach and falling down. Shinsou watched Mirio grin and stand up, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"Did that really happen?" Shinsou asked.

"Every word." Mirio nodded brightly. "I hear that the students there now still talk about the legend that came to be known as Rocket Willie."

Shinsou cracked a grin. He couldn't help it. "That sucks."

"Oh yes." Mirio nodded. "Every day I take a moment to praise the heavens that I was born with a healthy sense of humor. Of course, the incident also made me think about the tactical advantage."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm serious. Picture this: you're a villain all hyped up to take on the police, and suddenly you got hit in the face with a pair of boxers going fifty miles an hour, then you pull it off and have to look at someone with a body like this?" he gestured to his shirtless torso.

Shinsou gave the six-pack its due consideration. "I think that I would pause, sit down, and think hard about where my life is going."

"I know, right?" Mirio grinned, looking fondly down at Eri, who had been calming down a bit. The girl met his gaze, then broke down again. "We're trying to keep it quiet, so I'm not sure if you know this," Mirio went on, his voice lower so only Shinsou could hear him. "But when we rescued Eri, I lost my quirk."

Oh. _Oh._ Well… this had gotten awkward real fast. Shinsou looked away."Eraserhead did mention that's what the people who had Eri were using her for."

"They were." Mirio's hands tightened into fists, his face going hard. Shinsou eyed him. How much work had Mirio put into mastering his quirk? Turning it into an embarrassment into something that could beat down any villain that crossed his path?

"I don't regret it." Mirio went on, "Not for a single second. Because if I hadn't been willing to make that sacrifice," he pointed at Eri, who was still giggling, and smiled. "This wouldn't be possible."

Shinsou looked at Eri. He liked the girl and he could certainly see where Mirio was coming from. Not to mention that saying he had complicated feelings about his own quirk was putting it mildly… but… would he be willing to throw it away, just like that? He wasn't sure. Despite all the combat training with Aizawa, at times he still felt like his quirk was all he had. "I see."

"Oh, no need to look so gloomy." Mirio slapped him on the back, nearly bowling him over. "I know I'll get it back one day. Eri's power took it away, I bet it can give it back. I just need to wait for her to get it under control."

"And what if she never does? Or she can't fix it?"

"Then I never need to worry about accidently committing public indecency again." Mirio answered. "From that point forward, it will solely be on purpose." He grinned. "I'm still going to be a hero." He looked like he meant it, he _really_ did.

Shinsou looked away, not sure what else to say.

"Anyway," Mirio clapped his hands together. I think I've cooled off enough. I'm gonna go finish my run, I got another five laps to do before dinner. He waved. "Nice meetin' ya, Shinsou. Hang in there." his wave got more enthusiastic, "bye Eri! I'll see ya. Try not to bully anymore trees." Eri managed to get it together long enough to wave back, but she was still giggling when she got to her feet and joined Shinsou.

"Feeling better?" he asked. Eri nodded. Shinsou examined her. "Your horn hasn't shrunk." He observed.

"It hasn't?" her hand flew to her forehead. The horn was still a full three inches long, wasn't it supposed to shrink when she used her powers? Strange…

"Well, here take this." Shinsou reached out and dropped an acorn into her palm. She stared at it. "That's the tree you zapped. Now that your powers are starting to work again, you can finally work on controlling them. Turning that back into a tree might be a good place to start."

"But…" she stared at the acorn like she half thought it might leap at her face. "What if I can't do it?"

Shinsou shrugged. "Well then, you can always just plant it. It grew into a tree once; it can do it again. Now c'mon," he offered her his hand. "Let's go see, Eraserhead." She stared at the acorn for a long moment, then looked back up at him. Eri smiled and nodded.

As they walked back through the woods to the school, Shinsou found himself lost in thought. It was intimidating. He wanted to be a hero. The greatest hero ever, he'd declared as much. But when he had to compete with people like Midoriya and Mirio…

But…that was thinking about it the wrong way, wasn't it? The point of being a hero was to help people, right? Not being better at helping people than other heroes?

Hmm… something to think about.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **I like Cementoss, something about his design just appeals to me. So he gets screen time in my story because nobody can stop me.**

 **Then Mirio Came in and took over the chapter, because he's funny. And that goes a long way with me.**

 **Till Next time!**


	12. Friendship in action

… **I…I'm afraid that… I've been lying to you all, and myself as well:**

 **Plot**

 _ **Noun**_ **; the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.**

… **based on this, I am forced to admit that this story does, in fact, have a plot.**

 **I'm so sorry.**

 **Chapter Twelve: Friendship in Action**

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

"Er, Pricipal Nezu?"

"Oh, All Might!" The bear-weasel creature beamed at him from behind his ornate desk. "Come in, come in." The principal shuffled aside the paperwork he'd been invested in and gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. Once Toshinori had taken a seat, the principal steepled his front paws together and leaned forward.

"So," he squeaked expectantly. "How are you, All Might? Settling into your retirement nicely?"

Toshinori shrugged. "It's… been an adjustment."

"I can imagine." The principal nodded. "it's something every dedicated hero must go through when its them for them to hang up the cape."

"I…suppose," Toshinori nodded. Of course, he doubted any other hero had to go through losing quite so much of their power all at once. He could barely walk up a flight of stairs these days without coughing up blood.

"So, what can I do for you today?"

Toshinori shifted uncomfortably. There was something about the principal's black button eyes and cheerful smile that set him on edge. _I'm your friend,_ the eyes seemed to say, _and that's a Good Thing. Because if I wasn't, no one would ever find your body_.

Toshinori put the thoughts out of his head and spoke. "I'm having trouble with a student. I spoke to Ken about the issue and he suggested that I come to you and ask about a…red folder?"

"Oh my!" the principal sat back in his chair. "A red folder? Really? Is the situation that bad?"

"Um, I don't know." Toshinori answered, feeling nervous. The principal didn't look alarmed, exactly—he looked excited. "What is a red folder?"

"Ah," the principal nodded. "You wouldn't know about these yet, having only recently joined the faculty." He spun in his chair and hopped off, momentarily disappearing behind the desk. "Follow me," he said, gesturing with one paw as he walked towards a small door off to the side. "I shall explain."

"You see," he began, as they stepped through the door into a small file room. "It is a difficult thing to train teenagers to be heroes, as I'm sure you've been finding out. Every one of them has a different personality, motivation, and quirk. Which, of course, makes it impossible for a one-size-fits-all teaching method to ever be truly effective at turning them into proper Pro Heroes."

"Very true." Toshinori nodded. When he'd first decided to teach at U.A., he'd only really thought about finding a successor and training just them. Now he had twenty-plus students and cared about all of them, and it was taking every waking moment to figure out how to go about it.

"Now, I allow my teachers a great deal of leeway in how they go about training their students." The principal went on, moving over to a tiny file cabinet hidden in the back of the room. He reached into his vest and pulled out a key. "I find that an effective method, as long as they don't play favorite too much." a button eye shot a look back at him and Toshinori had the decency to look embarrassed. "But I also understand that my teachers are very busy and may not have the time to put the thought necessary into providing a student with what they need. Therefore, I take note of students that have particularly problematic behavior and put together a personalized plan on how to deal with it—the red folders, as they have come to be known. For those students who need an… extra special touch."

In the silence following the statement, the sound of the cabinet lock clicking open sounded oddly like a snicker. The principal opened the drawer and half-turned back to Toshinori offering a crimson folder. "Take it."

Toshinori did, it felt a little like holding a firecracker with a lit fuse.

"I daresay that if you follow the steps in that plan to the letter, Midoriya will be reformed in no time!" Nezu beamed.

"What?" Toshinori blinked, looking between the folder and Nezu. "But, I'm not here about Midoriya!"

"You're… not?" the black button eyes blinked back at him.

"No! Why would I have trouble with him? Midoriya is exemplary student!"

"Oh?" the white-furred head tilted to one side. "You do not think his complete disregard for his personal safety is a problem? If the issue goes unchecked, it is only a matter of time before he deals himself irreversible harm."

"I…" Toshinori pursed his lips. The principal wasn't wrong, of course. "Well, that may be true. But he only throws himself into danger to save others."

"Very noble." The principal smiled, "Exactly what we're looking for. But if he tears his arm off saving a cat from falling out of a tree, Recovery Girl won't be able to fix it."

"I'm… not sure how I could get him to be more careful." And, how could he? It was that passion to help, that strive to protect that made him the choose the boy as his successor.

"I am aware." Nezu answered, giving him a friendly nod. "That's why _I_ put together a plan to deal with it." His glanced at the ruby-colored folder. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to give it a peek?"

"Erm…" Toshinori could feel a bit of sweat building up on his brow. Had Nezu always looked this unsettling? "Perhaps another time," he said weakly. "The student I'm here about is Minoru Mineta."

"Ah, yes." The principal's eyes gleamed, switching tracks and putting Toshinori in mind of a weasel that had just happened on a mouse nest. "A troublesome student indeed." Without looking, the principal reached down and plucked out a different folder. "I assume the issue has to do with his more licentious tendencies?"

Toshinori took a moment to review his internal dictionary. "…yes?" he hazarded.

"I mean he's a pervert," Nezu explained gently, "to a degree that it's interfering with his potential."

"Oh, yes. That's the problem." Toshinori nodded. The principal didn't need to know about the whole wingman issue.

Nezu held out the folder. "It's a difficult issue to address, especially since he's at that age where hormones are beginning to ravage his body." The animal-person's nose twitched. "Puberty is a delicate stage of human existence. Life-long trauma can be ingrained so easily into a person's psyche at this tender stage."

"I, uh, don't want to hurt him." Toshinori said, eyeing the folder like it was hiding fangs between its pages.

"Oh no, definitely not." the principal shook his head. "Mineta's case is difficult. I played with the idea of a high-voltage shock collar with a controller distributed to his female classmates. But I'm afraid aversion therapy such as that will be unlikely to deliver preferable results." Toshinori said nothing, the principal sounded genuinely regretful, and it was giving him second thoughts. What would be the best way to politely refuse the folder?

"I'm afraid I had to come up with a method that was both painless and most likely trauma free."

"Er, most likely?" If he just, sort of, ran out the door right now… would the principal dock his pay? He didn't exactly _need_ the funding, but still…

"As I said, humans are very easy to traumatize." The principal smiled warmly, giving the proffered folder a little shake. "But I assure, you. This one is designed to avoid that."

Something about the gleam in the principal's eyes made him doubt that. But…well, all he had to do was take the folder. He didn't actually have to do what it said. Toshinori smiled and took the folder.

"Thank you, Nezu. I will do my best to produce results."

"Very good. I look forward to hearing about how he reacted."

Toshinori stood there, smiling weakly for a few uncomfortable moments, wondering if it was safe for him to leave now.

"Good luck. And I do hope you'll take a look at Midoriya's folder as well."

"I'll think about it!" Toshinori turned and strode away. "Thank you very much, but I should be going now."

"Very good." Nezu called after him. "Let me know how it turns out."

* * *

It was a weekend and Kirishima had decided to go out for lunch, he'd opened the invitation to everyone and Shinsou had been too slow to get away.

"I must say, Kirishima." Said Iida, "When I first set eyes on the establishment you decided to bring us too, I had my fair share of reservations. But I cannot deny, the food is quite delicious. Although the décor is rather…"

"Questionable?" Tsu supplied, taking a long draw from her milkshake.

"Yes. That."

"Are you kidding me?" Mina askad, grinning. "I think it's fantastic!"

Shinsou glanced around. The restaurant was and American-style burger joint. At least, he was pretty sure it was supposed to be American-style, there were lots pictures of shirtless, gun-toting guys with the heads of bald eagles all over the walls. The waiters also all had cowboy hats.

Very classy.

But he couldn't deny the burgers were good. But the scenery had made him wonder something.

"Hey, Kirishima?" Shinsou asked.

"Sup man?" the red-haired teen looked up from his fistful of fries.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, about your hero costume."

Kaminari raised an eyebrow and glanced down. The rock-hard hero had decided along with some of the other students to come in their hero outfits. Now that they had hero licenses, some of his classmates never seemed to take them off—advertising was important, after all. Personally, Shinsou rather liked his UA uniform—it was light and easy to move in, but he'd decided to forgo it today, choosing a pair of jeans and a hoodie instead. "Go ahead, shoot."

"Is there any particular reason you don't wear a shirt?"

"Do you know?" Sero said, swallowing a mouthful of chicken nugget. "I've been wondering that myself for a while. What's the deal dude? Do you secretly want to be a stripper or something?"

"Course not!" Kirishima shot him a flat look.

"You sure? You could make good money." Sero raised a hand as through envisioning a fluorescent bill board. "Red Riot, he takes rock hard to a new level!"

"Sero." Iida said, waving a finger at the tape-dispensing teen. "You shouldn't be so crude, especially not in public."

"Sorry, dad." Sero said, bowing his head. "I'll be good, I promise. But seriously, Kirishima, why?"

"There's actually a good reason for it. My quirk lets me take on attacks head on, right? Armored clothing would just be redundant and slow me down. Not to mention it would just get torn up and I'd need to always be replacing it." He placed a hand against his chest. "I'm not Yaozorozu. I can't afford a full closet of new clothes every day."

"That's fair." Shinsou nodded, satisfied. He took a bite out of his burger.

"Not to mention, dem abs!" Mina cackled. "Who'd want to cover those up?"

Kirishima recoiled, covering his chest with his arms. "Mina, seriously, keep it in your pants. I didn't come here to be stared at like a piece of meat."

"Then you should wear a shirt." Mina answered, grinning. "Seriously, you can get a six-pack of plain white t-shirts for, like, nothing. They're best when one or two sizes too small, that way you can still show off your muscles and get extra points when you shred them by flexing."

"Of course, even once you get past the shirtless thing." Sero chimed back in, "You've still got that whole…" he gestured absentmindedly to his face, "black leather jock-strap on thing."

"Actually," Iida chimed in. "I too have been wondering about that. If there is any tactical advantage to it, I'm afraid it eludes me."

"Well, I wanna…uh… provide some cushioning." Kirishima answered, a little weakly. "If someone punches me on the chin really hard, it'll still rattle my brain, yeah?" He grinned, warming up to the explanation. "So that's why I wear it."

"I see." Iida nodded. "Logical. My helmet is equipped with internal, miniature air bags, should I crash unexpectedly."

"See? There ya go!" Kirishima grinned.

"Sorry, dude." Sero shook his head. "I'm calling bull, you face mask covers, like, nothing."

Kirishima's shoulder's slumped. "Alright, I just think it looks cool. Is that so bad?"

"Well, there's no accounting for taste." Mina sighed.

"I mean…" Sero began, glancing at her. "I suppose you would know."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?" Mina demanded.

"Mina, no offense, but your hero outfit looks like you spilled a couple of cans of paint, then rolled in the puddle."

"So, I like colorful things, big deal!" she threw up her hands.

"Nothing." Sero answered, "As you said. There's no accounting for taste." Mina glared at him.

"And what about you? Black and yellow stripes? You look like a gangly hornet."

"His helmet is shaped like a tape dispenser." Tsuyu pointed out. "It's difficult to get more on point than that."

"Thanks, Tsu." Sero grinned, patting the side of his helmet affectionately. "I liked that touch, I feel it should advertise what I do, y'know? I mean. Tsu's a frog. Her outfit is a frog. Iida has motorized superspeed, his outfit looks like an exhaust pipe with legs."

"Mina makes acid." Shinsou commented, looking at the girl in question. "Her outfit looks like an acid trip."

"Huh." Sero tapped his chin, eyeing Mina's outfit thoughtfully. "Son of a gun, Shinsy's right." He nodded approvingly. "Well done, Ashido. I withdraw my criticisms."

"Et tu, Shinsy?" Mina whined.

"Isn't the whole point of friendship to be allowed to make fun of other people and have it not matter?"

"Well, yeah." Kirishima said. "But I thought you were all against friendship, dude. Now you're engaging in its activities. Careful, we're gonna get encouraged."

Shinsou shot him a flat look. "You lot have been forcefully shoving your friendship down my throat since I joined the class. You don't _need_ encouragement. But if I'm going to be subjected to it anyway, I might as well enjoy some of the perks."

"We're wearing him down, guys!" Mina laughed. "Good for us. I take all credit."

"You certainly take the lion's share of being obnoxious." Shinsou answered. "I thought It would be Midoriya, or maybe Iida. But I'd take five of either of them over one Ashido."

"Excuse me? What's wrong with me?" Iida asked, pausing mid-bite. "I know I can be overbearing but I happen to think I have been very respectful of your personal space and desire for solitude."

"You have." Shinsou answered. "At least you try to rein in your annoying tendencies. She revels in hers." He jabbed a finger at Mina who stuck her tongue out at him.

"I like the part where he didn't stop to question what would be annoying about Midoriya." Sero asked. "Like, we just all understand that his enthusiasm about being a hero is exhausting."

"I think it's admirable." Iida protested. "Midoriya is a fine example of what it means to be a hero."

"Yes, but you don't sit in front of him" Sero sighed. "You know that muttering thing he does? He does that through pretty much every class, just loud enough that only people immediately next to him can tell. Let me tell ya, five minutes of listening to that, and your brain turns to jelly," Sero shuddered.

"Is that why your grades are so bad?" Mina asked curiously.

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Sero waved a hand dismissively. "My bad grades stem from genuine, unadulterated laziness. But it certainly doesn't help." He shot her a look. "Besides, you're one to talk, Mina. You do even worse than me, and you don't have Midoriya's muttered musings about what would happen if Aizawa looked at himself and activated his quirk to keep you up at night."

"Have you considered asking him to stop?" Iida asked.

"Yep, and he has tried." Sero nodded. "But he can't seem to manage it. He offered to have that Mei girl in support class make him some kind of muzzle, but he looked kinda terrified at the prospect, so I said no."

Iida opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a loud crack as the door to the café was slammed open.

"Villains! Villains are going on a rampage!" the man standing in the doorway yelled. "Are there any heroes here?"

His fellow students were out of their seats and out the door so quickly, Shinsou almost thought they'd teleported. Well, this was the kinda thing they were training for. He reached for his wallet, placing what he thought would be about the right amount of cash on the table for everyone's bill—he'd get them to pay him back later, and went to follow.

He didn't hurry. He might have the binding cloth with him, but he didn't have his provisional license. He wasn't allowed to use his quirk, even against villains—and he wasn't eager to wind up in a police station explaining himself.

 _'Yes, officer. I brainwashed someone so other people could beat them into submission, but I swear it was for a good reason.'_

Yeah, cops would love that.

Still, he did want to see his fellow students in real action.

* * *

Kirishima ran through the streets against the current of people rushing in the other direction, he could see the villain from here, some kind of giant half-squid, half-human person was standing in the road. It had a food-cart clutched in a few tentacles and was brandishing it above his head, along with a guy who was presumably the vendor.

"Justice!" the squid person screamed. "Justice for the fried calamari!"

"Doesn't look like any pro heroes are around." Tsu commented, leaping over the head of a running civilian.

"Our time to shine." Kirishima called back.

"If you distract him, I can grab that guy he's caught." Tsu said.

"Sounds like a plan." Kirishima saw Tsu leap into the air and seem to fade out of view. Man, that camouflage thing she did was cool—why did he have to be such a one-trick pony?

"Any Ideas on how to distract him?" Kirishima asked. They were getting close. "We don't want him slinging the guy around."

"I got it!" Mina shouted. "Iida, do the thing!"

"What?! No, that's ridiculous."

"Iida, c'mon! It'll work. We don't have time to argue!" A pained look crossed his face, but Iida nodded. Kirishima heard the sound of motors revving up and then Iida pulled ahead, zipping into the circle of empty space before the angry squid guy.

"Villain!" Iida called. "Surrender immediately, or face the wrath of," Kirishima couldn't see Iida's face, but he could practically hear the pained look crossing it. "Vroom Vroom Go Fast Man."

The squid man paused, his tentacles going still. Instead of a mouth, he had a short, black beak which parted slightly as he stared at Iida with enormous eyes. "You, what?—that's a stupid name!"

"Vroom!" Iida yelled, rocketing forward planting a foot in his chest. The squid guy stumbled backward, his body rippling like rubber beneath the blow. His tentacles started to pinwheel, making the man held in them shriek, but Sero shot out a strip of tape out and caught the errant tentacle and pulling it taught. Then Tsu reappeared in midair slamming foot first into the tentacle and making it writhe, releasing the trapped man. He went flying, but Tsu's tongue shot out and wrapped around him as she used the tentacle as a trampoline to leap away.

"Hey! My justice!" the squid person whined. His tentacles had come around and entangled Iida's legs. There was a boom as Iida kicked into a higher gear, releasing a blast of air that blew the tentacles off him and sent them hurtling apart.

Alright, the civilian was safe. Now to subdue the villain.

Before the squid man could recover, Kirishima tackled him at waist height, wrapping his arms around the rubbery body in a great bear hug. He'd learned from his spars with Shoji that grappling with someone that had more arms than you was not a good idea, but with his quirk he didn't have much of a choice. So he had to get upper hand as quickly as possible. The guy might be huge, but his body was soft and Kirishima had managed to get his arms around most of the tentacles. He brought his arms together and locked his fingers together around the man's back.

Kirishima squeezed. The squid squirmed, straining against his grasp and smacking him across the back of the head. Kirishima ignored the blows. He could feel some of the tentacles starting to slip out and redoubled his efforts to constrict his opponent.

The squid man wheezed, that black beak clacking a little too close to his face for Kirishima's comfort—but he had faith in his quirk.

"L-let go of me!" the squid man yelled.

"Not a chance!" Kirishima answered. "Now, you gonna calm down? Or do I need to start sprouting spikes? That's a thing I can do, y'know?"

"Hey Kirshima, you, uh, need any help there?" he heard Sero ask from somewhere behind him.

"I got him. But can you grab his free tentacle? Tape him up too, so I can stop holding him. He's really squishy and it's kinda gross."

"Jerk." The squid guy hissed. "Your body feels like sandpaper!"

"You got it." Kirishima heard the stretching noise of tape unrolling and grinned.

"Oh, come on!" the squid guy yelled. "This isn't fair!"

"Tough luck, dude." Kirishima grunted, not relaxing his grip. Render the villain helpless first, then you can talk to them—just like Fat Gum had taught him. A few moments passed while Sero tried to tape up the tentacles without catching Kirishima too.

"Alright! Alright!" the squid guy shouted. "I give up." He stopped struggling and wriggled his tentacles around so Sero could tape them up. Kirishima didn't relax his grip until he was sure the guy was thoroughly bound. He stepped back, leaving the oversized man laying grumpily on the sidewalk.

"I have contacted the authorities." Iida said, they will be here soon to take our statements and deal with him.

"Thank goodness for that!" they looked around and saw the cart vendor walking towards them along with Tsu. He smiled at them, "Thanks for saving me from this maniac. If you ever want some free calamari, come find me."

"I wouldn't take him up on that," the squid man grunted sullenly. "The squid he sells is rotten, but he fries it anyway. It's made at least three people sick so far."

"Uh, what?" Sero asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The vendor huffed. "You're crazy."

"Oh yeah?" the black beak clacked angrily. "My granny's in the hospital after eating some of your rotten food, ya jackass."

"Wait, is that why you were attacking him?" Mina asked. "I thought it was because he was selling calamari."

"Why would that matter?" The squid man grunted. "I love eating calamari. It's my favorite food."

"But…" Mina frowned. "But you're a squid…"

"I look like one." he snorted. "It's just a quirk."

"Sir," said Iida, turning to the vendor. "Is what he says true?"

"Is what he says—what?" the vendor through his hands up. "You believe him? he attacked me!"

"Yes, he did." Iida said patiently. "And rest assured, he will face justice for that. But that does not change the fact that if you are knowingly selling rotten food, then you are in violation of several health codes."

"This is ridiculous! I'm the victim here!"

"Of his attack yes. But his accusation is a separate matter."

"Alright, well, here's the thing about that." The vendor held up a finger, then pointed it at Iida. There was a sizzling noise and a brown, bubbling liquid shot out at the motorized teen.

Iida's legs kicked into gear and he blasted himself out of the way and the man turned on his heel and took off running. He waved his hands behind him and more of the bubbling liquid fountained into the air. His fellow students leapt out of the way, but before Kirishima did he realized the squid man was still bound up behind him.

Acting on instinct he stood and spread his arms to intercept as much of the liquid as he could. It sizzled where it struck his skin, but didn't seem to penetrate his quirk. Kirishima sniffed it. "Careful guys! I think it's boiling cooking oil!"

That made the rest of them pause, the running man was spraying so much of the stuff behind him that it would be difficult to pursue without getting some nasty burns. Then Kirishima saw Shinsou walking up the street towards them from the same direction the man was running. He saw the guy's eyes flick over them then to the running man.

"Out of the way or get fried!" the man shouted.

Shinsou raised his hands and stepped aside to let the man run past him. Then, just as the man passed by, he held something out and pressed it against the man's arm.

The vendor yelled and collapsed, the streams of oil gushing from his fingers cutting off. By the time they had caught up, Shinsou was already wrapping a length of the bind cloth around the man's hands.

"Woah, nice job dude!" Kirishima grinned, glancing at the prone man. He looked dazed, twitching on the ground like that. "What did you do to him?"

Shinsou held up a black rod, he pressed a button on the handle, and it crackled with blue light. "Stun baton." He explained. "I got the idea after Yaozorozu almost tazed me and Power Loader built it for me. I thought it'd be useful if I need to take someone on in close combat and won't talk." He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "The binding cloth is hard to use."

"No worries."

"I'm _shocked_ you had something like that up your sleeve." Sero grinned.

"Boo." Mina called. "Talk about low hanging fruit."

"Where were you keeping that?" Kirishima asked, examining the weapon. It was at least two feet long.

"In my pocket." Shinsou answered, putting his hand on the tip of it and twisted. There was a click-click noise as the baton compressed like a telescope.

"Nice."

"While I commend your quick thinking, Shinsou," said Iida. "I feel the need to remind you that you do not have your provisional hero license. What you just did was strictly speaking against the law."

"Actually, it wasn't." Shinsou answered. "I didn't use my quirk, that's what the law actually prohibits." He paused, looking down at the man. "Unless this guy wasn't a villain… he wasn't, right?" he looked at them. "I seem to have missed most of the action. Can someone fill me in on what happened?"

"Sure thing." Kirishima grinned. "Let's grab go back and get desert and I'll tell you all about it."

"I shall remain to meet the police and fill them in on the situation" Iida declared.

"Thanks dude!" Kirishima waved. "Anyway, here's what happened…"

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Boy this chapter went in weird directions. But I'm quite happy with where I went with my first attempt at a villain encounter. Action, heroics, and, of course, a twist ending.**

 **What fun!**

 **Till next time.**


	13. You Happened

**So yeah. This chapter took a while. That may have something to do with the fact that I've moved 1000 miles from home to start grad school. YAY!**

 **But I'm not sure this chapter will have the same zing as some of the others, it doesn't even have Shinsou in it. OH NO!...By this point, the story is just whatever MHA I feel like writing and hoping you'll all still read it because you're too invested to quit!**

 **(Note: Shinsou is still going to be the focus of the story, I just got invested in a certain scene in this chapter that adding him to it would have been a half-assed effort.)**

 **Tally-ho!**

 **Chapter 13: You Happened**

S&DS&DS&DS&D

"Mina."

Mina looked up from her scrambled eggs and smiled. "Mornin' Kirishima, what's up?"

Kirishima held up his phone. "Care to explain?"

Mina squinted at the screen. "Rookie on the Rise," she read. "Villain's best beware Red Riot's Rock-Hard Hugs." There was an image of on the screen of Kirishima, holding the up the squid guy from the other day in a bear hug. His face was hidden from view, buried in the rubbery folds of the squid guy's chest.

"Wow Kirishima, you're trending! Good for you."

"The photo, Mina."

"It really catches your good side." Mina nodded.

"Yeah. It does. It's from real close up too. Why, the person who took it would have had to have been standing practically right behind me." Kirishima gave her a flat look.

"Why Kirishima, I can't help but feel that you are accusing me of something."

"I'm accusing you of pulling out your phone, in the middle of the fight, and snapping photos." Kirishima said dryly. "Then posting it online."

"Kirishima…" Mina placed a hand against her chest. "You have cut me to the quick!"

Kirishima stared at her for a moment. "You're right, sorry. Now that I think about it, it couldn't have been you." he shrugged. "As you said, this photo is really nice, and I've seen some of your selfies."

"Hey! The heck is that supposed to mean? I'm great at taking pictures!"

"Sure you are," Kirishima nodded agreeably. "It was probably Sero. That guy has some seriously good camera skills."

"How dare you!" Mina declared, pointing a finger at him. "I can out-selfie Sero any day of the week."

"So, you're saying he didn't take a photo of me hugging a giant squid man? And didn't post it online?"

"Darn right he didn't." Mina huffed.

"Because you're the one who did it."

"Obviously!" Mina through her hands up. Then paused. "Um… I mean…" she wilted. "I walked right into that, didn't I?"

"Yes." Kirishima grinned. "Yes, you did."

Mina pouted at him then relented. "Ok, fine, sorry," she said. "Posting it online was a bit much I guess."

"Eh, it's fine." Kirishima shrugged. "Like you said, I'm trending. I suppose it's one way to get my name out there." He wilted slightly. "Even if it's only for my…rock-hard hugs."

"I know, right?" Mina grinned, her mood flipping in an instant. "You're just a great big rocky marshmallow."

Kirishima opened his mouth to argue but felt the futility and closed it. "It's just the way they describe it is so… not manly. I neutralized a villain without any collateral damage by taking him head on. Why does it have to be described as…" he cringed. "Snuggling them into submission."

"Is that how they described it?" Mina grinned, snatching the phone out of his hand and scanning through the article. "That's amazing!" she cackled "Oh, don't worry about it." She said, catching the look on his face and patting him on the shoulder. "The internet may be forever, but it's also got the attention span worse than mine. You'll get a chance to prove your manhood next time."

"Yeah, yeah." Kirishima muttered. Maybe next time he'd just headbutt them or something…

* * *

"Your special assignment is making me visit old people?" Mineta demanded, eyeing Toshinori with suspicion. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Toshinori nodded with all the confidence he did not feel. The folder Nezu had given him had been… pretty vague. There'd just been one paper in it with an address and a short message underneath that said:

 _Take Mineta to BB, let her sort him out._

That had been… unsettling.

Then he'd looked up the address, which had turned out to be a retirement home for old heroes. He wasn't sure if that made it less ominous, or more, but he'd asked for help and this is what he'd been given. Surely Nezu could be trusted not to arrange anything that would harm a student…

Well… not _badly._

It's not like Toshinori had any ideas of his own on how to deal with Mineta. It would be best to trust in the principal and hope for the best.

They stepped off the sidewalk onto the path leading to the retirement home. It was a relatively small one, unremarkable really. There was an elderly lady sitting in a chair in front of the main entrance. She appeared to be snoozing but stirred when they approached.

"You the ones from UA?" the lady asked, peering at them from behind her enormous glasses. She looked back and forth from Mineta to Toshinori's skeletal frame. Somehow, he got the feeling she wasn't impressed.

"What's it to you, you old crone?" Mineta demanded. The woman tilted her head at him, it may have been a trick of the light playing on her glasses, but her eyes seemed to gleam.

"We are," Toshinori interjected. "Would you be, um… BB?"

The woman's wrinkled lips pulled back a smile, revealing perfectly white teeth. "Oh yes." She nodded. "Little Nezzy sent me a message telling me you might be coming. She turned toward Mineta. "Hello there, young man. My name is Betty, I'm the one who you're going to be helping today."

Mineta eyed her suspiciously. "Help you with what?"

"Come along and see," she got rather shakily to her feet and set off. Once she was moving, she went at quite a clip and they had to hurry to keep up.

"So how do you know principal Nezu?" Toshinori asked.

"Oh, Nezzy likes to keep in touch with all the heroes he's met. Never knows who might be able to help him with his little problems."

"You used to be a hero?" Toshinori asked.

"Oh yes, didn't he tell you?" he slowed to a stop in front of a wide, open courtyard. There were a couple of equally elderly people ambling around and snoozing in the morning sun. "This is a retirement home exclusively for retired heroes. Back in my day I was known as the Bronze Bombshell."

Mineta mad a little gagging noise and nearly tripped over himself, staring at her with wonder in his eyes.

"Heard of me, have you?" she asked.

"Yeah!" the midget nodded, looking at the elderly woman with newfound regard. "You were one of my dad's favorites! He has some of your old pin-ups in his man-cave. They're…" a rather slimy smile crossed the boy's face. " _Something_."

"Is that right?" Betty cackled. Her laugh sounded about thirty years younger than the rest of her. "I was quite the knockout back in the day."

"I'll say!"

Betty turned around and faced them, "So. I'm an old lady, but I still need my exercise." She stretched her arms out with a long groan. "I also want to see what those whippersnapper Nezzy is training are capable of. So, boy, I want you to attack me."

"… What?" Mineta tilted his head to one side, he glanced at Toshinori. "Did you really bring me here to fight an old lady."

"Oh dear." Betty said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a tiny rock. "Seems you need to be taught a lesson." She grinned in a way that put Toshinori in mind of Midnight and flicked the pebble at Mineta, he leaned out of the way, but as it flew passed his head, it exploded.

"OW!" Mineta yelped, rubbing his ear, "What was that?"

"I was a bombshell in more ways than one, kiddo." The lady laughed.

Mineta backed away, rubbing his ear and scowling. "I'm still not fighting an old lady."

"I see, Well that's a shame." Betty answered. "Tell you what, if you help me get my exercise in, I might just be willing to give you one of my old posters."

Mineta froze. "…old posters?"

"Oh yes," Betty nodded, smirking. "I did a swimsuit photo shoot back in the day, and the results have been cluttering up my room for some time."

"Swimsuit…" Mineta's eyes glazed over. "My dad doesn't have that one," he whispered. "He'd be _soooo_ jealous…"

"But… if you're unwilling to help me…" the lady sighed dramatically.

"I didn't say that!" Mineta declared, raising a fist and a fire burning in his eyes. "It's a hero's duty to help those in need!"

"Excellent!" Betty cackled, pulling a few more pebbles from her pocket. "Show me what you got, Kiddo!"

Toshinori beat a quick retreat as pebbles and purple balls began to fly through the air. There was a patio off to the side well shaded by an old tree, with a pair of empty chairs beneath it. He made a beeline for it and sat down to watch.

When he'd first seen that Nezu wanted him to take Mineta to a retirement home, he'd wondered if Mineta was supposed to learn a lesson about how beauty was as fleeting as youth, or something like that. This was… a little more ridiculous.

But he'd seen that look in Betty's eyes. He'd seen it on Midnight whenever she walked into a class of rambunctious student. She'd have Mineta wrapped around her little finger before the day was out, he was sure of it.

Well… if it distracted Mineta from his wingman fantasy…

"Hello, All Might." Toshinori started and looked around. An elderly man had snuck up on him while he'd been watching Mineta try to squirm out of a headlock. The man was dressed simply, with a balding head, old fashioned spectacles, and a shiny silver cane that he was leaning on rather heavily.

"Please. Call me, Toshinori." He said, gesturing to the space beside him.

"I'm not sure I can do that." The man said, gratefully shuffling himself onto the chair.

"Well, I'm not All Might anymore." Toshinori said, his mood souring slightly.

"I suppose not." The man nodded. "But I can't bring myself to think of you that way. Not after what happened." Toshinori raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Have we, er, met?"

" _Rude!"_ A tinny voice spoke up between them and Toshinori's gaze dropped to the man's cane. The handle was shaped like a turtle's head, and as he watched the turtle's beak opened and stuck out it's tongue.

Toshinori blinked.

"Don't be rude, Aurum." The man said, banging the cane on the ground once. He closed his eyes and sighed. "He doesn't even recognize me," he murmured ruefully, his lips quirking into a smirk. Then he opened his eyes. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Not many people remember me these days. My name is Soru, perhaps once better known as Silver Shuffle."

"Silver Shuffle?" Toshinori blinked, looking back at the man's face. Then his draw dropped.

He _had_ met this man before. A Decade ago, back in the bad age of supervillains before All Might had risen into his own and toppled All for One off his shadowy perch. Heroes had been in a dark place back then. Trying with all their might to stem the flow of crime and destruction following the unchecked rampage of villains.

Many would simply die, killed in the field of duty. Others, the rising stars with particularly good quirks, would disappear—All for One's hunt for power was insatiable.

All Might could count on two hands the number of heroes who had managed to have both have any kind of success in stopping villains and avoided All for One's greed. Silver Shuffle had been one of them. The town where Silver Shuffle had been ranked as one of the safest places in Japan to live simply because he worked there.

His eyes fell back to the cane, understanding dawning. Silver Shuffle's quirk was similar to Tokoyami's, he could manifest a separate entity made of liquid metal from his body, using it as armor, or a weapon, or just as a means of transport.

It had been quite a flashy sight to behold. It also likely contributed to the reason All for One hadn't tried to take the quirk. He'd found notes in one of All for One's labs stating that quirks possessing some sort of mind of their own tended not to take well to being transferred to a new person. They either refused to obey or outright turned against the new user—essentially, they were more trouble than they were worth.

"I do remember meeting you," Toshinori said. "Back when I busted up that drug ring."

"Yes, I know." The man sighed. "An entire cartel living right under my nose, and I didn't know until a reporter stuck their microphone in my face and asked me what I thought of you taking them down." He shook his head. "Thought it was just some paparazzi's idea of a joke at first. What a way to find out."

Toshinori winced. "I hardly found out about them myself," he added hurriedly. "That was the detective work of a friend of mine." the drug ring had actually been one of the tendrils of All for One's crime network—a _particularly_ covert one. According to some of the documents they'd found in one of the cartel's hidey holes, All for One had actually sent some agents to neutralize Silver Shuffle, but they failed to defeat him. Rather than bothering to deal with it himself, All for One had decided to make use of him instead. The criminal mastermind had used the towns reputation for safety to hide his covert operations. They'd had strict orders to never let the Hero catch on to their presence and had minor street thugs on hand to stage diversionary crimes to distract him if he ever got close to discovering them.

"You were an amazing hero." Toshinori said. Even though All for One had never personally taken it upon himself to take down Silver Shuffle, that hadn't stopped countless unrelated villains from trying their luck against him and he'd beaten them all—no small feat when the villains outnumbered heroes ten to one.

The man snorted. "So it was said. I certainly tried. Personally, I spent every day frustrated, went to bed exhausted, and could barely sleep because I was certain that if I did someone would get mugged right outside my house and I wouldn't be alert enough to stop it."

 _"That's cause you're a try-hard."_ the cane warbled, making Silver smack it against the ground.

"I… understand." Toshinori nodded. Didn't he just? It was that frustration that drove him. That powerlessness to save Nana that pushed him to protect everyone else in the world… "So, what happened to you after that?" Toshinori asked. He'd been very busy around that time and hadn't been able to pay attention to the media.

"What happened, he asks," the man snorted, his sagging face wobbling slightly as he smirked. " _You_ happened."

Toshinori blinked, not certain he understood.

"Picture this: you spend twenty years throwing yourself into your job. Fighting villains, protecting people, saving the day. You pour your blood, sweat, and tears into keeping your home safe. Then, one day, you watch a little brat come out of nowhere, accomplish everything you failed to do. Then go on to do what you did for one town, for the entire country, all in a few years."

"Oh." Toshinori blinked his shoulders hunching slightly. This wasn't totally new to him. A number of heroes had resented how powerful he'd been—Endeavor came to mind—but they usually sounded angry or disgruntled. Not so…personally bitter.

"You can't even bring yourself to hate the little twerp." Soru sighed. "Because he's accomplishing the things you always dreamed of making a reality. A world where people can cross the streets at night in safety. A world where villains don't have free reign." He waved a trembling hand. "Your dream has come true!... but it was someone _else_ who made it happen." He shook his head. "And you can never get it back."

Toshinori was silent. What… what was he supposed to say to that?

 _"What's the matter, Jackass? Got nothing to say?"_ the face on the cane snapped.

"I'm sorry." Toshinori mumbled, his head bowed.

"No!" Silver said, holding up a hand. "Please. Don't. You shouldn't have to feel sorry for what you've done. As for you," he looked down at the cane in his hands. He reversed his grip so he was clutching it by the base and smacked the handle onto the ground several times.

 _"Ow! Stoppit!"_ the cane whined, as it's face mashed against the floor.

"You stop it." Soru shot back. He glanced at Toshinori apologetically. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I like to think I've long since come to terms with it all, and here I am, venting at you. As for Aurum's foul mouth…well, I was quite bitter about it back in the day." He shrugged. "I'm sure you can imagine, all the nasty things you mumble to yourself when you're angry and nobody is around. But Aurum's always around to listen to me and, unlike me, he never forgets anything—" he stopped smacking the cane against the ground. "Except manners, apparently."

"It's alright." Toshinori assured him.

"Hmmm." The man eyed him thoughtfully. "Anyway, the truth is I was already on the decline when you showed up. I was slowing down, burning out—the constant fighting and worrying and stress was eating me up. Once you showed up," he shrugged. "I couldn't really see the point in keeping it up much longer. I stuck around just long enough to groom a few sidekicks up and left them for the job. Then I retired, and the rest is history. Since then, I've lost most of my power too." Silver Shuffle sighed. He held up the cane, the turtle head on the handle looking slightly squished and was glaring at both of them. "I can't make Aurum much bigger than this anymore, can't make complicated shapes much either." He placed the cane on the table between them, and it rippled, coiling itself up like a snake and resting its head on the man's arm. "Getting him to help me walk is about all I can do now."

" _Like I'd ever leave you, old man!"_ The silvery creature hissed. _"But I do miss being able to turn into a dinosaur_." The cane grumbled.

"We are dinosaurs." The man chuckled. "Metaphorically speaking."

 _"You strike me as more of a fossil."_

"My bones certainly feel old enough for that to be true."

"I can't even walk up a flight of stairs without coughing up blood." Toshinori admitted.

Silver Shuffle eyed him sourly. "Wow, you even one-up everyone else with how badly you crash."

"Oh!" Toshinori blinked, feeling like more of a jackass than ever. "I, uh… didn't mean-"

"Oh, calm down." the man shook his head. "I'm too old to waste my time getting offended at every little thing. Just… forget it." They fell silent for a few minutes, watching Mineta practice against Betty. Whenever he hit her with one of his balls it would just explode in a little puff of purple fuzz and the elderly heroine would just cackle.

"She's certainly spry for her age." Toshinori commented.

"Oh yes, Betty is still quite the firecracker," Soru nodded. "You may not know this, but most heroes from our era who actually managed to reach retirement tend to have trouble actually doing it. We made enemies, as I'm sure you know. Our old archnemesis' don't tend to leave us alone once we've decided not to fight anymore. Normal old folks shouldn't have to put up with that, so that's why we old pros tend to stick together in places like this. Most of us aren't as fast as we used to be, but some of us still got the pepper." He smiled fondly as Betty tapped her foot and created a line of small explosions across the floor that blew Mineta off his feet. "Some villains busted in here a few months back, looking to settle some old scores. Betty says it was the most fun she'd had in years."

"I believe it." Toshinori said honestly. Watching the old heroine wag her finger at Mineta. He'd never really thought much about what old heroes did when they retired. After he'd first beaten All for One, the injuries he'd suffered had always put him on a strict time limit to find a successor and train them. The only old hero he really knew was Grand Torino, and that old man refused to retire, wouldn't even stop wearing his hero outfit!

Soru and Betty had to be at least twenty years older than him. He wondered how long they'd actually been here? Once Midoriya was ready, would he have long enough left to spend a few years in a place like this? Would he want to? What would that be like? Having a place to sit back and watch the next generation take on the mantle…

Soru was looking at him, Toshinori noticed that the sunken eyes had silver rings around his pupils almost seemed to glow. "I was wondering something about that, about you losing your powers, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Go ahead." Lots of people did, and he was good at keeping his answer vague. There may have been no hiding the truth from All for One, but that was no reason to let anyone else know about One for All.

"Who was that man you were fighting? When you burned out for good?"

Oh… Toshinori blinked. Surprisingly few people had cared about that, they'd just thought of him as a dangerous villain. "Can I trust your discretion?" he asked.

"I would expect so." the man snorted. "Who's going to take an old has-been like me seriously anyway?" he glanced down at his cane. "What about you, Aurum, can you keep your fat beak shut?"

A silvery tongue shot out and blew a raspberry.

"Yeah, I can't imagine anyone listening to that either. So, who was it?"

Toshinori glanced at the man and found himself believing him. "My archnemesis." He admitted. "He was actually the man who organized the drug ring in your town—and many others too. It would not have been an exaggeration to call him the kingpin of the villain underworld." He clenched his hands into fists.

"Seriously?" Soru snorted. "You really can't do anything by halves, can you? Well, if you have to go out, better to do it with a bang." He looked away. "Much better than a whimper, that's for sure."

"There is that." Toshinori nodded. In truth, now that he thought about it, he'd lost his powers in the best possible way. If All for one had kept hidden for another year, waited until the last dregs of One for All had left Toshinori. Then it would have been up to Midoriya to beat him. The thought of such a failure, of leaving that horrible mess to the next generation… It was enough to turn his stomach.

He blinked and glanced at Soru. Was that what he had felt?

"It does get better." Soru said abruptly. "After a while."

"What does?" Toshinori blinked.

"That feeling of uselessness." Those silvery eyes seemed to be looking right through him. "Of walking down the street, seeing a villain rampaging and knowing if you were just five years younger you could have put them in their place in no time flat."

Well that hit… way too close to home. A thought occurred and Toshinori narrowed his eyes. "Tell me. Has principal Nezu been in communication with you too? Did he want you to talk to me?"

"I have no idea who that is." Soru answered. "All I know is Betty stopped by my room this morning and said, and I'm quoting her here: Hey Soru, you silvery sad-sack, All Might is going to be stopping by today. Here's your chance to have it out with him." He snorted. "She knows I've come to terms with it all. But she's always been a meddler."

"I see." Toshinori nodded. That was probably the truth.

He settled back down in his seat. "Does it really go away?" he asked. "That feeling of helplessness."

"I didn't say it goes away." Soru snorted. "I said it gets better. You come to terms with it."

"…That's nice to know." Toshinori admitted. He looked up at the sky.

"Still…" Soru sighed. "It was nice to finally meet you. Not to sound petty, but… it's gratifying to see that you get old just like the rest of us. If you know what I mean."

"Gee, thanks."

"Oh, don't be like that." The man smiled at him. "You're among friends here. We all get old one day." There was a particularly loud boom and the sound of a teenager shrieking in fear. "…well, except Betty, apparently," Soru shrugged. "You want to get lunch? The mess hall has a soft serve ice cream machine."

Toshinori thought about it, then nodded. He was feeling a little hungry and Mineta would be fine… probably. He got to his feet. Soru grabbed Aurum, who uncoiled himself, and placed the silvery creature against the ground. The old man rocked back and forth once or twice and tried to push himself upright, only to plop back down. The man sighed. "Just…give me a minute. Knees aren't what they used to be… nothing is, really."

Toshinori offered his hand. Soru glanced at it then met Toshinori's gaze. His lips twitched. "Well… I suppose some things don't change." He took the hand and Toshinori pulled him upright.

"Sorry." Toshinori.

"S'fine." Soru huffed. "Part of being an old hero is having to come with terms with no longer being that strapping young powerhouse you once were. We all do it."

"Yeah…" Toshinori answered, a small smile working its way across his face as he followed the man. "Yeah we do."

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **Hmmm… yeah, I think this turned out all right.**

 **But we'll be back to silly stuff with Shinsou and Co next chapter, I swear.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it,**

 **Bye Bye!**


	14. Pro Friendship

**So one reviewer was confused about what I did with Mineta last chapter, they felt like I'd been building up to some kind of disciplining or punishment for his behavior that didn't really happen.**

 **That's fair. To be honest, I had no idea what exactly I was gonna do with him. I was hoping I'd have a cool idea as I went along. But I had a cool idea for All Might that took over the chapter instead—personally, I find him to be a character much more worth my time.**

 **I dunno, Mineta's pretty creepy, I have no idea how to realistically address that and don't really think I'd have fun trying. So I'm just gonna move on, I'm done with that subplot for now.**

 **Moving on! It's time to get back to Shinsou, but not just him. Because not only is the friendship expanding, the circle of those who are making friends is expanding…**

 **Chapter 14: Pro Friendship**

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

Yaoyorozu frowned at the cupcake.

She could tell by the feel of it in her hand that the cake would be moist and spongey. By all accounts she'd made it perfectly.

But the frosting was a bright, neon green. She'd been going for white. She couldn't explain it, but every time she tried to make frosting, it came out this exact shade of green. It was just… so weird.

She shrugged and took a bite. She'd need to replace the lipids and sugars she's burned through making it somehow. She was pretty sure it wasn't a one-to-one ratio, in other words, she was burning more energy making the treat than she was getting out of eating it. For one thing, she was definitely still hungry, even though she'd eaten about a dozen cupcakes in the past hour. Even so, consuming her own creation would help her to extend her time creating to at least some degree.

She went to take another bite, but her tastes bud rebelled, making her nose wrinkle and her gag reflex activated. Apparently 37 versions of the exact same dessert over and over again was her limit before the taste curdled her appetite. Yaoyorozu shook her head, putting the confectionary down. No. she'd be better off going down to the kitchen area and making some food the old fashion way.

As she stepped into the kitchen, she glanced at the stove but decided against trying. Her cooking skills were… less than excellent. Her family had always had people who did the cooking for them, after all. She was learning but… her last attempt at making an omelet had set off the fire alarms.

The burnt egg bits had been so thoroughly stuck to the pan that she'd been tempted to dispose of it and create a fresh pan when nobody was looking. But Midoriya had been kind enough to take over the cleaning for her.

It had been _mortifying._

She moved over to the fridge and opened the door. 1A had jam-packed it with all kinds of bags and containers with various names, labels, and increasingly angry notes informing the world that the contents belonged to one specific person and anyone who stole it would die.

She narrowed her eyes and scanned the shelves carefully. There had to be _something_ that wasn't claimed. She moved aside a jar of pickled jalapenos and… aha! A box of pizza with a note on it saying that everyone could help themselves—likely Midoriya's handiwork. She grabbed the box and lifted it up.

Then she froze.

There was something… wrong. The hairs on the back of her neck were rising, and she felt a sudden urge to pop out a flashbang and run for the hills. It was as though a ferocious predator had materialized silently just behind her.

She straightened up and slowly closed the door to the fridge. The feeling hadn't gone away—there was definitely someone in the room with her. Slowly, she turned around.

"Hi!" a voice said from _far_ too close.

Yaoyorozu yelped and tried to jump back from the apparition with pink dreadlocks and golden X'd eyes breathing down her neck. The girl staring at her didn't budge, she just kept staring with an eager grin on her face.

"Um… Hello." Yaoyorozu said, holding the pizza box against herself like a shield. "I think I recognize you," she said hesitantly. "Aren't you… from the support department?"

"Hatsume Mei, at your service." The girl's grin widened. "But enough about me, let's talk about _you!_ You would be the student known as Easy-Bake Oven, yes?"

"Um…actually, it's Creati…"

"Right, sure. Is it true you can create basically whatever you want?"

The way the girl was eyeing her like a slab of meat instinctively made Yaoyorozu's eyes dart around for Mineta. "Um… well, there are limitations…" Aaaannnd, now the girl was touching her. Grabbing her arm and examining the skin with a manic fascination.

Yaoyorozu had heard stories about this girl before. She'd always thought Midoriaya had been exaggerating—for such a strong guy, he could be pretty jumpy—but Yaoyorozu found her eyes straying to the door and measuring the distance.

"I had a _very_ interesting idea." Hatsume was saying. "You see, I have many ideas for brilliant babies—too many, some might say." Babies? What was she talking about? "But I'm woefully _limited_ by the available supplies. The support department has this ridiculous idea about giving each student a set amount of parts and material with no regard for how much they actually produce. I'm always running out and Power Loader is just no help at all."

"Is… that right?" Yaoyorozu said awkwardly, trying to pull her arm back. Would it be rude to hit the girl with the pizza box and make a run for it?

"But then I heard about you and your quirk. The ability to just pop out anything you want. Why the things _I_ could build with a power like that…" Was… was Hatsume drooling? She was speaking so fast Yaoyorozu could barely keep up. "So, I was wondering," the girl went on, licking her lips. "If you would be so kind as to accompany back to my workshop and help me with a few things. Not for free, of course. I certain that I could make you something useful, anything you want!" Hatsume lifted Yaoyorozu's hand and clasped it between her own. "Just think of all the wonderful babies we could make together!"

"W-what?" Yaoyorozu stammered, now thoroughly lost. "B-but…we're both girls."

Hatsume blinked, momentarily derailed. "What does that matter?"

"I don't—what?" as she stammered as her brain fizzled and her stomach let off an enormous growl, making her cheeks flush.

"Ah, you're hungry!" Hatsume crowed, mercifully switching topics. "All the more reason to come back to my workshop. We have a vending machine I've hacked to give me food for free. Snacks are on me!" she declared, turning and dragging Yaoyorozu towards the door.

"B-but there's food here." Yaoyorozu nearly wailed, flailing the pizza box with one hand. But Hatsume was already halfway out the door and well beyond listening. Then the crazy girl came to an abrupt stop, making Yaoyorozu collide into her.

"Hello Hastsume," said Power Loader. The teacher was standing just outside, his arms crossed. "Whatchya doing?"

"Oh. Hey boss." Hatsume said, her enthusiastic grin becoming somewhat forced. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, well. I was just tinkering in the workshop when I thought to myself: Hey, it's pretty quiet. No explosions, no triumphant laughter, no anything. And I thought to myself,: Hey this is pretty peaceful... where's Hatsume? I better go find her. With luck, I'll find her taking a nap she desperately needs and not… oh, I don't know, dragging a terrified looking student around… again." He sighed. "Wouldn't that be wonderful? So…" he gave the girl a pointed look. "What's going on?"

"Oh…You know, just… helping another student explore the potential of their quirk to the fullest."

"Is that a fact?" Power Loader's helmet turned slightly to face Yaoyorozu.

"Of course it is!" Hatsume said breezily. "Isn't that right, Yaoi?"

"Um…it's Yaoyorozu." Yaoyorozu stammered. Hatsume was squeezing her arm pretty hard and she was wondering if she could sprout some thorns—just a few? Surely that would be okay…

"…Let her go, Hatsume." Power Loader sighed.

"Oh, come on!" Hatsume groaned, "Don't you realize how helpful she could be in our work?!"

The metal helmet bobbed up and down once. "Yes. I do. I realized it the moment I read the report about her quirk. Doesn't change anything. Let her go. Do we _really_ need to have that talk about personal space again?"

"But Power Loader!"

"Not telling you again, Hatsume."

"Spoilsport!" Hatsume grumbled, shaking a fist at the teacher. "You're just afraid of progress."

"Uh huh. Sure." The teacher japed a finger in the direction of the school building. "Go back and take a nap, Hatsume."

"I don't need a nap!" Hatsume yelled, swaying where she stood. Carefully, Yaoyorozu pried her arm out of the girl's grip—Hatsume didn't seem to notice.

"By the way," the teacher said. "One of your classmates just called me and said there's an alarm going off from inside your workshop. Apparently, it's not one the school installed, so I don't know what it's for. Should I be worried about that?"

"What?" the girl shrieked. "My Babies!" She took off down the path at a dead run. Yaoyorozu stared after her, completely lost.

"I'm sorry about that." Power Loader sighed. "Are you alright?"

"Um… I think so?" Yaoyorozu blinked. "Just, um… a little confused. Is… is she alright?"

"Yeah." Power loader nodded. "I think it's just that she's sleep deprived. Hatsume's brain won't stop running full tilt and its starting to be a problem." He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh." Her stomach growled again. "Well, I'm going to um… go have lunch."

"Right, right." The teacher nodded, turning and moving heading back toward the school building. "Sorry again."

"It's alright." Yaoyorozu stepped back into the kitchen and tried to make sense of what had just happened. But she was too hungry; food now, deal with whatever _that_ had been later.

* * *

"So. You had an encounter with a villain the other day." Aizawa said, wrapping a bolt of cloth around Shinsou's leg and yanking.

"…I didn't use my quirk." Shinsou answered, blinking the stars out of his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. Eri was sitting by the sidelines, slowly trying to work her way through some picture books.

"I'm aware. Power-Loader told me about the stun baton he gave you."

Shinsou winced. "Sorry, I've been meaning to tell you about that…"

"Really?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow. "Would that have been before or after you attempted to use it on me in a spar?"

Shinsou didn't answer.

Aizawa smirked. "That's what I thought, brat. But it's fine." The teacher offered a hand to help him to his feet—a signal that the sparring match was put on hold for now. "You're coming far with the binding cloth in a relatively short time, but I'm not bothered by you seeking out alternatives methods. When you're fighting a villain, the only thing that matters is incapacitating them as quickly as possible with as little collateral damage as possible. People who complain over methods are idiots not worth anyone's time."

"You don't use anything else." Shinsou felt the need to point out.

"True," Aizawa nodded. "But my quirk pairs very well with the cloth. There are many people with quirks that would let evade or destroy the cloth, which I can take away until they are too entangled to do so. You do not have that option, so trying to become a perfect copy of me would be a waste of time." He shook his head. "But this isn't really what I wanted to talk to you about. Since you have encountered a villain and—considering your class's track record—it's essentially a certainty that you'll encounter more; I believe the question of you being allowed to use your quirk in such situations should be raised."

Shinsou tilted his head to one side. Was Aizawa saying what he thought he was saying? "You mean getting my hero license?"

Aizawa shook his head. "No. The administration is very firm about limiting the number of professional licenses that handed are handed out. This year's licensing exam is over. Allowing you bypass the system to get attempt to get a hero license runs counter to the hero profession's goal of upholding that system. So just immediately giving you a chance to earn your hero license is not an option."

"Then—" Shinsou began but was interrupted by the doors being thrown open and a figure swept into the room. He squinted, but it was hard to tell who they were because there was a bright light shining in through the doorway—like someone had set up a series of stadium floodlights.

"DID SOMEONE CALL FOR A PRO HERO?" a woman's voice declared.

" _Emi._ " Aizawa groaned, turning his head away from the harsh lights.

"Yes, Aizawa?" Emi grinned, her megawatt smile somehow distinct even in the glare of the lights.

"First of all: why?"

"Obviously, because I wanted a dramatic entrance."

"Whatever. Shut off the lights, you know my eyes are sensitive."

"Only thing about you that is." Emi grumbled, but she stuck a hand in her pocket and the glare cut off.

"Great." Aizawa grumbled. "Second of all, you blew it."

"What?"

"I hadn't finished telling him about what's going on. He has no idea why you're here."

Emi's mouth opened. "I… came in too early?" she asked, she turned beseeching eyes on Shinsou.

"Sorry." He shrugged. "He's right. I don't know why you're here. Although I assume it has something to do with me getting a hero license equivalent?"

"It does." Aizawa huffed, rubbing at his eyes irritably. "There's a lesser known program in place to give a chance to students who either failed or missed the licensing exam. The end result, should you succeed, will give you special permission to use your quirk in emergency situations." He raised a finger and gave Shinsou a stern look. "To be clear, this is not a hero license. You will not have permission to seek out villains and engage them. It only gives you permission to act freely should an emergency happen around you. Such as if a villain attacks your class or a building fire breaks out nearby—that sort of thing."

"Seems kind of limited." Shinsou commented.

"That's because it is. If it wasn't, everyone who failed the exam would seek to take it as a second exam. As it is, it's only really used for people who truly need it."

"And given the track record of Aizawa's class, you're gonna." Emi commented, still looking put out. "Seriously, I've had five years of students without a single disaster happening. And your class by itself is up to… what? Six? Seven?"

"Exactly." Aizawa said, still not looking at her. "The program operates in a case by case basis and is only allowed if certified as necessary by at least two qualified individuals. In this case, Principal Nezu and myself are willing to do that—if you're interested."

Shinsou nodded immediately. There was really no question, villains were going to appear regardless of whether he could legally use his quirk or not. There was no reason he could see not to go through with the program.

"Yeah, I thought you would be." Aizawa nodded. "Now, It's less of an exam and more of an internship. You're going to need to work with a pro hero for a few weeks, at the end of which they will determine if you are equipped to handle the responsibility. I would have you work with me on this. But it could be said that I would be incapable of," his face twisted into an annoyed scowl. "Providing an _objective_ opinion." He grumbled. "As if I haven't expelled dozens of students from my class who I deemed unable to handle the responsibility of being a hero."

Shinsou looked between the two and understood. He caught Ms. Joke's eye. "But Professor Aizawa," he said plaintively. "if you can't be the pro hero, then who?"

Ms. Joke blinked, then perked up, her smile returning as she thrust out her chin.

"DID SOMEONE—"

"No." A bolt of cloth shout out, wrapping around her mouth. Aizawa glared at her. "You already missed your chance, so quit it." Ms. Joke deflated slightly and rolled her eyes at him in a way that made it clear she would be sticking her tongue out if she wasn't too busy try to disentangle the cloth. He rolled his eyes and turned away. "And you." He said, pointing a finger at Shinsou. "Don't encourage her."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Emi wanked off the cloth. "Aizawa," she said, puffing up her cheeks and pouting at him. "I wish you'd stop trying to tie me up. I've told you I'm just not in to it."

The man took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. "I think that's enough for one day." He turned on his heel and began to walk toward the door. "I'll leave the two of you to discuss the details. Eri." He called, making the girl look up from her book.

"Yes, Mr. Aizawa?"

"Please come with me. Principal Nezu wants to see the two of us."

"Why?" the girl asked, packing a few of the books into her bag.

"I believe he wishes to see if you can practice controlling your quirk." The girl's head snapped around; her eyes wide. "Don't worry." Aizawa sighed. "You don't have to if you don't want to. But I'll be with you the whole time. Nezu just wants to explore the possibility off returning Mirio's quirk to him."

"Oh." The girl considered this, then nodded. "Okay." She hurried after him as he stepped out of the training room.

"He's so adorable." Ms. Joke giggled as the door closed behind him. "He's so good with kids if he just lets them in." she sighed, "He should really give me a chance."

"I ship it." Shinsou said.

"Aww… thank you!" The woman threw back her head and laughed. Then she looked back at him, her smile still present, but there was a glint in her eyes. "But don't think you can butter me up." She wagged a finger at him, and her smile fell away. "I like you, kiddo. But don't think for a second that I'm not prepared to fail you."

She crossed her arms and considered him. "Despite want Aizawa may think, I _am_ a professional. Your quirk could do _a lot_ of damage if misused, and If you can't prove to me that you can be trusted to use it responsibly then we're going to have a problem."

Shinsou blinked, taken aback at the sudden shift in her demeanor. But he nodded. "I understand."

"Do you?" she asked. "Aizawa didn't mention it, but this program has its risks for you. If you fail it… well, you won't be barred from taking an actual license exam, but it doesn't look good on your record if you see what I mean?"

Shinsou considered this. She did have a point, if he failed, it would quite literally mean a pro hero investigated his potential and deemed him unfit. Not a good mark on any resume... but… "I understand," he nodded. "I still want to do this," he shrugged. "If I'm going to be a hero, I need to prove I can use my quirk properly anyway, don't I?"

The woman's smile returned. "That's the spirit!"

"So, what am I actually going to have to do?"

"Well, some students from my class got their hero license in the recent exam, so know they are starting to go on patrols around the city in lieu of some classes. I was planning on letting you go with them. See how you do."

"…That's it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "It is literally real-world experience. What better test could there be?"

"I suppose that's true." He nodded. "When do we start?"

She grinned. "Tomorrow at noon. It's gonna be so fun!"

* * *

Yaoyorozu stood outside the Support department building and hesitated. After she'd filled her stomach and had time to think, she had something she wanted to ask Power Loader—but she also didn't really want to bump into Hatsume again just yet. The girl was just… _so_ much.

Before she could reach for the door handle, it pushed open and Midnight stepped out.

"Oh." The woman blinked and smiled. "Hello there, Yaoyorozu."

"Hello Professor." Yaoyorozu nodded politely. "How are you?"

"Oh fine." Midnight smiled. "I was just stopping by to help Maijima with a little… problem." she smirked. "But it's all taken care of for now, so I'm off. Was there something you wanted here?"

"Er, yes." Yaoyorozu nodded. "Is Power Loader here?"

"Oh yes." Midnight nodded, stepping aside and holding the door open for her. "Maijima is right inside. Looking to get some new toys?" Midnight winked.

"Um…Not exactly."

"Is that so? Well, don't let me keep you."

Yaoyorozu thanked her and slipped inside. There was a map on the wall of the building that she was able to use to find Power Loader's workshop. The man was bent over a workbench, tinkering with something. Yaoyorozu cleared her throat.

The man looked up. "Oh, Yaoyorozu." He said, sounding surprised.

"Hello Professor," Yaoyorozu nodded politely. "I was wondering if I… could…" she trailed off, staring at something in the corner of the room. Hatsume was laying sprawled out on the floor with a blanket over her. Her eyes closed and clutching a piece of machinery like a teddy bear.

"Don't mind her." Power Loader waved a hand. "We just had a chat and she finally… agreed… to take a nap."

"Um…" Yaoyorozu tilted her head to one side. "Is that what Midnight was doing here?"

"It might have been." Power Loader grinned. "Hatsume is stubborn as they come, but _nobody_ wins an argument with Nemuri."

"Is that really an okay way to treat students?"

"Well," the teacher answered. Yaoyorozu was pretty sure he was raising and eyebrow at her underneath his helmet. "We made you all fight giant robots in the entrance exam." He shrugged. "Compared to that, I feel that forcing you kids to get enough sleep to prevent you from having a mental breakdown is much more responsible. But anyway, what can I help you with? I don't recall you having any support items, were you looking to acquire one?"

"No." Yaoyorozu shook her head. "I was actually wondering if I could ask you something."

"Of course." He nodded. "But come with me into the backroom." He gestured behind him. "Nemuri assured me Hatsume would be out for at least six hours, but I'd rather not make too much noise." Yaoyorozu nodded and followed the teacher through the door.

The room looked like a miniature warehouse, the walls were lined with shelves and labeled boxes; circuits, metals, and entire wall with containers of different sized gears—it was organized, but there was so much stuff it felt cluttered anyway.

"So, what can I help you with?" the teacher asked.

"Well I was just wondering about something you said earlier, about how my quirk could be helpful to you."

"Yep," the man nodded. "Electrical part replication, rare metal and material production, perhaps outright assist item production. With the help of someone like you, the support department would have virtually no limit to what we can make. Expense would become a complete non-issue. Believe me, we burn through a lot of funding with our tinkering. Your assistance would be pretty impressive."

"Then… why haven't you or principal Nezu approached me about this? If it would help…"

"Ah." The teacher nodded. "Now that's a tricky question." He tilted his head back and hummed thoughtfully. "Well. Truth be told, I've talked with the principal about exactly that. We decided against approaching you about it. For a couple of reasons."

"Really?" Yaoyorozu blinked. "Like what?"

"Well, think about it like this. Imagine for a moment if someone like Hatsume was given unlimited access to enriched uranium."

Yaoyoruzu frowned, "I don't…"

"Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how that would end either." He nodded, reading her expression. "But I fully expect it to involve the creation of several massive craters." He shook his head. "I've worked with her for a while, and she absolutely means well. But she would not be able to stop herself from creating something that's quite dangerous if used incorrectly." His voice took on a sour note. "And let me tell ya, kid, as someone whose made equipment for pro heroes for over a decade, _nobody_ but the engineer reads the safety manual. The number of times heroes have come to me complaining about how a piece of gear I made for them broke after using to hit a villain even after I _specifically_ told them not too…" he scowled.

"I see. Well… you don't need to worry about that exactly. I can't produce enriched uranium."

"You can't?" The teacher tilted his head to one side as he frowned in alarm. "Have you tried?"

"No!" she shook her head. "But I'm certain I can't. Well," she hesitated. "Theoretically I could, but I'm pretty sure if I tried, even if it was just a little bit, the effort involved would kill me." She shook her head, "I can't make something from nothing, the energy for that would have to come from _somewhere_."

"I see." The teacher tapped a metal-shod finger against his chin. "Well, it's good to know that Hatsume won't be able to rope you into helping her make a nuclear warhead. But," he shook his head again. "That doesn't change anything, enriched uranium was an extreme example. Believe me, there's _plenty_ of dangerous things that could be made quite easily with you providing the simple raw materials."

"So that's why you haven't approached me about this? You think it would be dangerous?"

"That's the main reason, yeah. But another thing is that you wanted to join the hero course. You didn't come to U.A. to be a production factory, Nezu and I have no intention of forcing you to be one."

"But…" Yaoyorozu frowned, rubbing her arm nervously. "If I did help the support department, wouldn't you be able to make more effective support items for heroes? Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Ah." He nodded. "Now we're gettin' into the complicated reasons." The hero scratched his chin. "Let's see… how did Nezu put it… ah!" he snapped his fingers, making a metallic ting. "Tech don't have morals. We could make better gear at lower cost with your help, that's true. But once the gear is made, there's no telling where it'll end up. Villains could steal it and use it for bad purposes. In the support department, we make support devices, _not weapons._ Specific gear uniquely suited to helping an individual's quirk. After all, people can steal weapons, but stealing a quirk? That's…" he hesitated. "Well, I don't like the word impossible. But, it's not something that happens. Anyway. Here at UA, we train people to use their quirks effectively and how to use them in good ways."

"I understand," Yaoyorozu nodded. "But I also think that, if it's used to make personalized support gear, then maybe I should help the support department. It would be good training." Better than making cupcakes, that's for sure. "And it could be helpful."

The teacher hmmed to himself. "Well… if you're _willing._ I suppose that would be fine, long as someone was supervising what you make… tell ya what. Why don't I give you a list of materials and a few electrical components, and you see if you can make more?"

"That sounds great!"

"Also, I want to include a rule that you'll only accept parts lists from me and me alone."

Yaoyorozu thought for a moment. "Hatsume?"

"Hatsume." He agreed. "Can't have her getting anything _too_ dangerous without anyone else knowing." He turned towards some of the boxes on the wall and started to pluck a few pieces of machinery from them. "Here," he said, passing them to her. "Why don't you start by taking these back to your dorm and making a few copies of them."

Yaoyorozu examined the technological doodads. There were a couple of microchips among them—those were far harder for her to make than say, a canon. It _would_ be good practice.

"I'll swing by some time tomorrow to see what you've made and test them." The teacher said. "After that, I'll make a list of some of the _really_ complicated stuff we could use."

"That sounds great!" Yaoyorozu smiled. It felt good to be useful, and this was something only she could do. She clutched the parts to her chest. "Thanks professor! I won't let you down." She turned and skipped away.

She had work to do.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

 **As one subplot ends, another may begin. Also I can get back to the main plot, such as it is.**

 **Hope you enjoyed! See ya next time.**


	15. Inter-Academic Friendship

**Hmm… you know, this story seems to be turning into a series of oneshots about the MHA world, bouncing from character to character wherever my whims take me. It's a good way for me to resist a wider, connected plot.**

 **I'll write about anyone, except probably Midoriya. Not because I hate him, but because he is the main character of the canon, so he already gets so much screen time I don't really feel the need to give him more, side characters tend to be more interesting to me anyway. Does anyone else feel the same?**

 **Chapter 16: Inter-Academic Friends**

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

Jiro leaned back in the uncomfortable desk chair and started drumming her fingers to the beat of a song she liked as she waited for… whatever they were here for.

"You guys got any idea what this is about?" she asked the room at large.

"Nope." Sero yawned, stretching up his arms and leaning back in his desk. "All I know is Aizawa told me to be here. What about you, Tsu?"

The frog girl shook her head. "I'm as in the dark as you guys."

"Someone is approaching," said Shoji. The larger boy was leaning against the wall, multiple pairs of arms crossed with one morphed into an ear and pressed against the plaster. Moments after he spoke, the door opened and Ochaco stepped in.

"Hey guys." She smiled, waving one hand towards them.

"Sup, Death From Above," Sero grinned. "Aizawa tell you to come here too?"

The girl shook her head, "No, actually. I'm sort of the one who arranged this." She gestured to the four of them.

Jiro raised an eyebrow. "Then what's this about? Eraserhead said something about an extracurricular project?"

Ochaco nodded. "That's right. It's something I set up. I need all of your help with something."

"Really?" Sero asked. "I'd have thought you'd ask Midoriya or Iida for help. Aren't you lot the three musketeers?"

"There's a reason I couldn't ask them." The girl paused, shuffling her feet. "Um, is it alright if I start from the beginning? It's kind of a long story."

"Of course." Tsu nodded.

"We're all ears," Jiro said.

"You have my attention." Shoji said.

"Sure." Sero agreed, propping his head up with his hand. "You got my curiosity up."

Ochaco took a deep breath and started speaking quickly. "Alright, so my parents own a construction company. It's sort of small, but they do good work. And they are having trouble with a job and when they told me about it, I thought I could help, so I asked Aizawa if I could have some time off classes to help and then he talked with principal Nezu—"

"Uh," Sero interrupted. "Can you slow down? You're losing me a little bit."

Ochaco flushed. "Sorry, I'm just kinda nervous. Nezu agreed to let me have time off classes, but only by turning this into a project and he put me in charge of producing results."

"It is fine." Shoji said. "Why don't you start by telling us more about what the problem is."

"Right." The girl smiled. "Okay, so my parent's company are working on constructing a big library in the downtown area, but they are having some trouble with people trying to mess with the work."

"Vandals?" Jiro asked.

"Sort of." Ochaco answered. "See there's been some heated debate about the land plot they're building on."

"Ah, I believe I know of it." Shoji interjected, nodding thoughtfully. "Didn't some people desire to build a casino in the area?"

Ochaco nodded glumly. "Some really wealthy people, yeah. They weren't happy when a library was chosen instead." She scowled. "The casino people have been raising a big stink about it. But the city zoning board has already voted against them. So _legally_ , there's nothing they can really do."

Jiro frowned. She had a feeling she could see where this was going.

"Construction has been underway for a few months, but it's been slow going because things keep going wrong. The concrete foundation isn't setting right and cracking, tools going missing, well-maintained machinery breaking down, that sort of thing." She frowned. "It's odd, because my parents have been working with these contractors for years and they've never had these kinds of problems."

"You suspect sabotage?" Shoji asked.

"That's what I think." Ochaco nodded. "All the stuff that's happening isn't really dangerous, but it _is_ expensive." she spat the word like it was something she'd found crawling around in a gas-station bathroom. "If it continues for much longer, the project will go so far over budget that the whole thing will be scrapped. And guess who's going around suggesting that the whole library was a mistake?"

"The casino people?" Jiro asked.

"Yeah." Ochaco scowled. "They're pointing at all the problems and saying what a big waste of tax dollars it is and how, if they had just been allowed to build their casino, they could have bankrolled the whole thing and it wouldn't have cost the city anything." She looked away and spoke in a sickly-sweet voice. "Oh no, tut tut. What a _shame_ it all is." Ochaco looked down, her hands curling into fists. "They're also saying that they could have hired some competent workers to do stuff. It's starting to hurt my parent's reputation, and believe me, that's really not good."

"And the police can't deal with this?" Jiro asked.

"There's no proof that anyone is actively doing it." Ochaco answered. "And nobody is being put in danger, so with all the other villain activity going on, the cops only put one person on the site at night to guard it. But I'm certain the sabotage is being done with a quirk and the cops haven't seen or heard anything."

"Ah." Shoji nodded. "I believe I am beginning to understand. You wish for Jiro and I to assist you because of our high-perceptions quirks."

"That's right." Ochaco nodded. "If someone _is_ sabotaging the site, you two will be able to catch them in the act."

"Makes sense." Sero nodded. "But what about Tsu and me? Our perception is about as average as you can get."

"If we do find the people responsible it's important that we subdue them without hurting them. If they so much as get a bruise, the casino people would say that my parents hired kids as thug bodyguards or something."

"Really?" Shoji asked.

Ochaco shrugged. "Maybe, I don't want to give them anything more to criticize. But it's more than that, if it turns into a fight, it's absolutely critical that there be no collateral damage. So…"

"Ah." Sero nodded understandingly. "So that's why you couldn't ask Midoriya."

"There's a lot of expensive machines and materials around." Ochaco nodded. "Deku is a careful guy, but with his strength…"

"You can't have him leaving craters everywhere, gotchya."

"Whereas Sero and Tsu both have the ability to immobilize people quickly and quietly with limited potential for collateral damage." Shoji said. "A good fit for the required task."

"That was my thinking, yeah." Ochaco rubbed her hands together nervously. "So, um, what do you guys think? Are you willing to help me?"

"Of course!" Tsu answered instantly.

"I could use the extra credit." Sero agreed.

"Sure." Jiro nodded.

Shoji was quiet for a moment. "It is not that I do not wish to help," he said at length. "Nor do I wish to sound cold. But how long do you expect this to take? Are we expected to guard the site until construction is complete?" Jiro frowned at him, but didn't protest. He wasn't exactly wrong. They may be students, but their training was important.

"No, It's fine." Ochaco said quickly. "It's, well… I'm _hoping_ that won 't be necessary. if we just spend a few nights on the site we can catch the ones responsible and maybe get them to fess up that the casino people put them up to it. That would be enough. Even if they don't confess, proving that someone is actively sabotaging the construction will take a lot of pressure off. It will prove that my parents aren't incompetent, and we can get the police more involved. I'm hoping it won't take more than a week."

"Hmm." The taller boy thought it over, then nodded. "Very well. I will give it a week, but then I will have to return to my other classes."

"Thanks." Ochaco smiled. "Let's meet up with me tomorrow afternoon, and we'll all go over to the site so we can get started."

* * *

"So… it's a jetpack?" Kirishima asked, standing still as Power Loader carefully secured two metal cylinders around his lower back. They weren't big, both being about the size of a thermos, but they felt solid.

"No." Power Loader answered. "But you can think of them that way, if you want. Just don't try to fly with it because it'll run out of fuel pretty quickly, and then you'll look like an idiot falling out of the sky."

"So, what am I supposed to use it for?" Kirishima asked.

Power Loader looked at him. "Kid, aren't you the one who came to me asking for help with upping your mobility? It's to give you a boost of speed moving forward, so that you can catch up with villains who would otherwise be running circles around you."

"Oh, I get it." Kirishima grinned. "With these, I can do a rocket punch."

"…Yes." Power Loader sighed. "You will become the rocket. And you will punch things. It is for rocket punches."

"They're kinda small." Kirishima answered, twisting his head around to try to get a better look. "How much speed will they give me?"

"You'd be surprised." The teacher answered. "They're supposed to be small. Since they're meant to upgrade your mobility, it would be a major design flaw if they were big and clunky." The teacher stepped back and examined his handiwork. "You can thank Yaoyorozu for the compact size by the way." He jerked his head to the side.

"Really?" Kirishima turned his head and stared at the girl. She was sitting behind a workbench staring at some papers, but looked up at the sound of her name. "Momo, you made these?"

"I made the cylinder shells." She answered. "Power Loader and Hatsume made the fuel tank and the engine."

"And she did a very good job." The teacher answered. "Getting this kind of metalwork done is expensive, but she managed to get it right in about an hour. She also managed to add a ceramic coating to the outside of them, so they don't heat up too much and ignite your clothes."

"Really?" Kirishima grinned. "That's good. If I'm gonna be falling out of the sky like an idiot, at least my pants won't be on fire. So how do I turn it on?"

"Here," the teacher held out a ring. "Put this on your index finger with this switch towards facing towards your thumb." He pointed to a silver bump on the side. "When you press it, the thruster will engage. When you take your finger off it cuts off. It needs to be pressed hard, so activating it by accident shouldn't be a problem."

"A ring…" Kirishima frowned.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just, uh… I can't really do rings." Kirishima said apologetically. "It's my quirk. When I harden, my body expands a bit and it'll break."

"Is that right?" the teacher asked mildly. "Well, why don't you try that and see what happens."

Kirishima frowned at him, then shrugged. He took the ring and slipped it onto his finger. Activating his quirk, he blinked when he saw the ring flex, little grooves opening along it as it expanded with his skin. "Okay," he whistled. "That's pretty cool."

"Kid," Power Loader smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to? I make equipment for heroes, and despite what Hatsume may think, I'm damn good at my job. Also, since I know how heroes are, you don't need to worry about ring when you're hitting things. It's a flexible material that won't break and as long as you keep the side with the switch turned to the side, you won't have to worry about damaging it."

"Or activating it?" Kirishima grinned. "I'm having a sudden mental image of having the switch facing outward, punching a villain and activating the switch and then getting rocketed forward to body slam them…" his grin turned thoughtful. "Actually… I bet that would totally catch them off guard…"

"If that's how you want to use it." Power Loader sighed. "I mean, it's not like I just told you not to punch things with it like that, but whatever. If it breaks, I can make a new one… but I'll charge you for it." He added, wagging a metal-shod finger at him.

"I understand." Kirishima nodded. "So, we gonna test these things out or what?"

"Let's go to the testing room." Power Loader turned and moved toward the door. "You too, Yaoyorozu. You should see your work in action." He led them down a flight of stairs to a wide concrete room with several training dummies set up at the end.

"Well, have at it, kid." The teacher gestured at the dummies. "Get a feel for how it works. And make sure you keep your quirk on the whole time, because Hatsume managed to set most of the wall padding on fire yesterday and we haven't gotten around to fixing it."

"Alright." Kirishima cracked his knuckles. "Let's see how this works." He broke into a run, his skin turning rough as his quirk activated, pulled back his fist and leapt into the air. There was a flash of light, and fire bloomed from the cylinders strapped to his waste, he shot forward, flying right over the training dummy's head and slammed face-first into the wall beyond it.

"Seems about right." Power loader commented.

"Kirishima!" Yaoyorozu called. "Are you alright?"

"Fine!" he called back sheepishly, pushing himself to his feet and shaking his head. "That… was faster than I thought it would be."

"Told yah you'd be surprised." Power Loader smirked. "Still, at least we know its strong enough to propel him" he turned to Yaoyorozu. "From an engineering standpoint, that test could be considered a rousing success."

"Can we install some kind of brakes?" Yaoyorozu asked. "In case he misses like that in future."

"Not really." The teacher shook his head. "We want to keep it simple. Luckily, his quirk is well suited to this."

"Do I need to refuel it?" Kirishima asked, walking back towards them and rubbing one hand along his face to shake off the concrete dust.

"Not yet," the teacher answered. "It has got enough fuel for three blasts like that. But you shouldn't have held the button down so long. It's not really meant to make you fly, just give you an extra turn of speed to take villains with high mobility quirks by surprise." He crossed his arms. "Still, it's not going to be an easy thing to control. If you want to use something like this effectively, it's going to take a lot of practice, and it has limitations. Like, if you get into a fight on top of a building, you could accidentally propel yourself off the roof." He shrugged. "I'll understand if you don't want to keep using it."

"Are you kidding?" Kirishima gapped. "Of course I want it! My quirk is perfectly suited to this!" he grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Hard work and practice aren't enough to scare me off. I just gotta keep my eyes on the prize. Like the look I'll see on Bakugo's face when he tries to blast himself into the air above me to attack from above and I rocket up to punch his lights out." Kirishima smirked. "Give the guy a taste of his own medicine."

Power Loader stared at him, then shrugged. "Fine. If that's what motivates you, far be it from me to stop you." He turned. "I've got other stuff to work on, so I'll leave you to it. Yaoyorozu knows where we keep the fuel pods for when you run out. Try not to hurt yourself."

"Thanks teach!"

* * *

Shinsou strolled through the city, keeping an eye on the street signs as he followed the somewhat messy list of directions Miss Joke had given him. Apparently, he was supposed to be meeting up with some of her students for his mentorship thing.

He was pretty sure he could see the café she'd mentioned just down the block, he turned on the sidewalk and stared at the traffic signal, waiting for it give him the sign to cross. He shrugged his shoulder, trying to get a better feel for the outfit Aizawa had given him for the field work. It wasn't a hero costume, exactly, but it would function as one: Nondescript gray and black clothing, light but with some padding in case he took a tumble on the pavement. The binding cloth was wrapped around his shoulders and arms and he had his speaker on.

As the light turned green and he strolled across the street, he took a moment to try to quell the butterflies in his stomach. This was it. He was actually being given a chance to do field work in a hero capacity. It was a bit like he'd felt when he was standing at the gate of the entrance exam—which he'd failed completely because robots were dumb, but whatever. This time he wouldn't fail.

Well… maybe he would. But that was okay. Failing the entrance exam hadn't been the end, and this wouldn't be either.

Shinsou scowled underneath his speaker and gave his head a vicious shake. That sort of attitude was unhelpful. He _would_ succeed this time.

"Hey! Shinsy!" he blinked, pulling himself out of his head. Oh, he was here. Miss Joke was sitting at a patio table with a couple of other people his age. She waved him over and gestured to the seat beside her. "Almost didn't recognize you out of the U.A. uniform." She laughed as he moved to join them. "But then I sensed the cloud of serious angst and knew Aizawa junior must be nearby! Anyway, everyone. This is Shinsou, Shinsou, these are my students." She gestured to the three guys sitting around the table. "Actually, there's one more. But Tatami had to use the bathroom. Speaking of," she pushed herself back and stood up. "I'll be back in a hot minute. You guys get introduced."

"Thanks." He said flatly taking his seat and casting an eye over the people examining him. One was blue, his face smooth like stone with no nose or ears to speak of, he nodded at Shinsou.

"Name's Shikkui." He said politely.

The next one had long black hair and a red scarf hiding half his face—it made him look a bit like Aizawa. "My name is Iterjiro."

"And I'm Yo." Shinsou glanced at the third boy; black hair and a friendly smile that didn't quite seem to match his eyes. "So, you're the first year from U.A. whose being given special treatment after they couldn't make the cut to even take the provisional license exam."

Ah, so that's what this was going to be. "Yes." He said, nodding. "I am, and I'm thankful for the chance."

"Isn't that nice? He's thankful?" Yo glanced at the other two.

"Yo." Iterjiro said. "Calm yourself. Miss Joke asked you to play nice."

"Fine, fine." Yo leaned back in his chair. "I'll just quietly help babysit this first-year student and not bother to comment on how dumb it is that he couldn't wait for his turn at the provisional exam like everyone else."

"I appreciate that." Shinsou said blandly, making the boy scowl.

"So." Shikkui interjected, "I've heard your quirk is brainwashing?"

"That's right." Shinsou answered, the change of topic was appreciated, although the new topic wasn't as much. But he might as well get it out of the way.

"I'm interested to see how you are going to apply it. My quirk is hardening."

"Hardening?" did he mean like Kirishima?

Shikkui reached forward and picked up a newspaper lying on the table, he rolled it into a tube and held it for a moment, then he tapped it against the table. The paper clunked like a bar of iron.

"…Dogs everywhere must fear you." Shinsou commented, unable to think of what to say. He winced internally. Wow, could he come across any more like a jackass?

"Hmm. I haven't actually heard that one before." Shikkui nodded, his face didn't smile, but his tone was light, so he probably wasn't offended. "Normally people just say 'that's nice' and ask the next person what their quirk is."

"Sorry."

"It's fine. I'm not touchy."

"My quirk is boomerang." Iterjiro spoke, picking up the newspaper and flicking it into the air, it flew upward, orbited around his head three times, before clunking back onto the table. "I can control the things I throw and, before you ask, yes, I am _very_ good at darts."

"Sounds useful." Shinsou said. He glanced at Yo, who sneered.

"You'll see what my quirk is later, rookie."

"Uh oh. Yo's being grouchy again." Said a voice behind him.

Shinsou turned around and stopped. He stared.

There was a girl behind him. Or… half of one. It looked as though someone had their head pulled off and had it shoved onto a pair of legs cut off at the waist.

"Hi!" the face spoke from eye-level with him, a blond-haired one with a friendly smile. "I'm Tatami. Nice to meetchya."

"Uh…"

There was a click and he looked around. Ms. Joke was standing behind the pair of legs and holding up a phone in his direction. "Nice." The woman grinned, nodding appreciatively at the screen.

"Uh…"

The girl's body shook slightly, and Tatami's head shot upward, it was like watching someone pull themselves out of a diver's wetsuit. She jumped up and down slightly as she yanked her arms out.

"Her quirk is telescopic." Miss Joke explained. "Which means she can… well, you saw." She smiled. "Sorry about that, but I love getting pictures of people's faces when they first see her quirk."

"You should have seen hers." Tatami smirked, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at the teacher. "She looked like I'd smacked her with a fish."

"Rude." Miss Joke complained. "But anyway. Are you guys to ready to go on patrol?"

"Depends." Yo said. "How much do we have to hold his hand?" he asked, jerking his head toward Shinsou.

Miss Joke frowned at him. "While I do hope to see you all engaging in teamwork where ever you can, but strictly speaking, not at all. Out in the field, you'll often find yourself working alongside heroes you've never met. It's important to be able to learn how not to get in each other's way. So It's his job to learn to work with you. I'm not going to interfere in your efforts, but if any of you should start fighting or actively sabotaging one another." She glanced over them, Shinsou included. "I'll send you all on an hour long giggle fit. More if I think its warranted." Her students shuddered, and Shinsou swallowed hard, remembering when she'd used her quirk on him before. A full hour of that? No thanks.

"Well. Off you go." She waved her hands in a shooing motion. "Good luck everyone!"

 **S &DS&DS&DS&D**

 **Yay new friends! But also one who is NOT interested in Friendship. He'll learn, or maybe he won't.**

 **Yeah, this chapter was more a setup for the what's to come while also building on the bit with Momo.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed, feel free to review.**

 **Till next time!**


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